Our life compared to 4 seasons

I want to compare the life of a believer to the four seasons in any given year. Verse 22, while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night.

Ecclesiastes, please, chapter 3, for another verse. Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 1. Ecclesiastes 3, 1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

Please underscore in your mind verse 1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. One more in Psalm number 90, please. 90th Psalm.

The author, we all know, is Moses. Look at number 9, please. Psalm 99, for all our days are passed away in thy wrath.

We spend our years as a tale that is told. Underscore verse 10. The days of our years are threescore years and ten.

And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow. For it is sin cut off, and we pass away. The Lord will bless what our brother has been telling us, and the Holy Bible that's been read.

The life of the believer, illustrated by the four seasons in a given year. In view of what has been given, I want to address this great matter of our life. I want to just tell you before we start, and a few weeks ago in another country, there was a beloved brother, and he was asked to take the gospel meeting in a large assembly.

And he spoke a very fitting word, on nine o'clock the next morning, as he assumed to cross a main highway in a village. In an instant of time, he was knocked down and killed. What is your life? Even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

That shook that whole area. Here's another one I want to talk about. I heard a lady just a few weeks ago telling us of her family, a young mother, and she described in minute detail how five of her children at different age groups in the early part of life were taken into eternity.

So I want to talk to you this morning about our life, and I want to divide up the life of the believer into four sections. And I'll take these three verses out of their context, and give you what's on my mind right now, that it might stir our hearts to be more faithful than ever we have been before. You see, Psalm 90, for example, if the individual lives to 80 years, we can divide the 80 years into four.

And I want to suggest that from birth to the 20th year of our lives, that answers to the spring of a given year. 20 to 40 answers to the summer where people develop in life. 60, 40 to 60 answers to the fall of the year.

And then 60 to 80 answers to the winter of the year. In this audience right now, each of these seasons are represented in our age groups. Now these are general observations.

There's exceptions to the rule. But I want to notice that in the spring of the year, from birth to 20 years of age, is usually the time of conversion to God. You've experienced it just here in the last few days.

Somewhere in the first 20 years of life, most people are saved by the grace of God. Likely the largest part of this audience were saved before they were 20 years of age. I was 19 and a half when I was saved a few years ago.

I'll talk about that in a minute or two. I want to notice that in the summer of life, there are major choices that can be made. Between 20 and 40, you're likely here today, you have major choices to make as the years unfold.

You see, from 40 to 60 is when careers are established in general terms. Maturity develops. And then of course, at the end, in the next segment, that answers to winter.

From 60 to 80, there are times all things being considered equal, that a believer is mature and develops in their communion and fellowship with the God of heaven. Now I want to just say a simple word or two on each of these sections and move on. What section of the year are you in? Any of us? Obviously, we can take examples from the Holy Bible.

Let me talk about conversion for a minute or two. One of the outstanding examples of someone that was saved in the New Testament was a young man called Timothy. And it would seem that on the first missionary journey in Acts chapter 14, when Paul and his fellow laborers were around the Lystra area, the young man heard the gospel and was saved by the grace of God.

The Bible reveals that he was raised in a Christian home. I understand there's no record that his father was ever saved, but his grandmother and his mother poured into that young life the great truths of the gospel of the grace of God and the importance of conversion in the early part of life. And so we make a simple application.

We are living in a very busy society. The stresses of life, legitimate or otherwise, are pressing in. And one of the great responsibilities and opportunities of mothers and grandmothers in the home sphere is to pour into their lives, into the young lives that come after them, the truth of God relative to the gospel, their need of a Savior.

If you're here today without the Lord Jesus Christ and the first session of this conference, you could learn your need right now and turn in saving faith to the great Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and understand for the first time that when he died on Calvary for sinners, I'm one of them. He died for me. You see, we're not here to criticize anybody.

We're here to tell you the facts of life. Young married couples have responsibilities likely more than ever before, and the demands of life are fantastic, and there's very, very little time to pour into the souls of young people the great truths relative to the gospel. You think of the potential that's at this conference.

It seems to me that Louis and Eunice understood that their little one had tremendous potential, and after conversion to God, he becomes one of the outstanding younger men in the apostolic age. Remember what Paul said about him? I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. He had ability second to none, taken and used by God and assigned by the Apostle to four different assemblies in the New Testament.

Where did it all start? It started, I take it, in the home sphere, mother and grandmother on this occasion. How about it? Do you have a family altar in your place, your home? People say, well, I have no time. Man, I've got to be at a certain place at a certain time, and I'm totally committed, and that will go sometime later, and you could miss the opportunity.

And you see, God was pleased to use the opportunity and desire of the parents to see the younger one saved. Now, I understand there are all kinds of different homes across the spectrum of society today, and many have never had that privilege, but still God is working, and some have been saved recently that we are totally amazed that the grace of God ever reached them. Now, I don't want to spend all the time on that.

I want to move a little further. Let me talk to younger friends who are here. Maybe you're a young teenager, or maybe a little older.

You're less than 20 years of age, and maybe you have never verbalized it to one, and you resent being raised in a Christian environment because you're restricted as to your movements and what you do. Well, I can testify to this audience. Whenever I was a teenager years ago, I used to say to myself, look at my buddies.

They can do whatever they want. I can't. I used to get frustrated.

Maybe you're frustrated here today. Maybe you're coming to this series of meetings, and you're coming here because you have to come. I have come to tell you today that God is working, and in spite of your attitude, the Holy Spirit of God can overrule all of those things, and you can be convicted, challenged, and bow in repentance before the God of heaven and be saved by the grace of God.

If I was to take a census right now, likely the biggest majority, the largest percentage of this audience was saved before they were 20. That's conversion. That's where it starts.

Let me talk for a minute or two about the summertime of life. Major choices have to be made between 20 and 40. One of the greatest examples in the Bible is Moses.

Our brothers talked about that. You know in the passage, when he was come to 40 years of age, he had a big decision to make, and the Scripture shows that he had the way up what really the big thing in life is, an opportunity, choosing rather to suffer affliction with choosing rather to enjoy the treasures and pleasures of Egypt, and his stepmother rightly had big ambitions for him that one day he would be on the throne, but he made a wise choice, and he says, well these people, I'm going to suffer with them, and it would seem to me that somewhere in there between 20 and 40, he made a wise decision, and he let the materialistic world take second place, and he went in for God, and his people, and the future that lay ahead. What a mighty man he became, likely one of the greatest leaders of the Old Testament ages.

You know, where did it all start? Well, I take it at Jochebed's knee. She's the one in the early part of the historical book there, Exodus, and all that she did, back to the same thing. Maybe there's somebody here today, and you're between 20 and 40, and you have big decisions to make, whatever the facet of life may be.

We are here to tell you, it's possible to make the wise decision and the right decision, but you'll need to know what you're doing. I have nobody in mind in this audience, but I want to tell you something. I know quite a number of folk of recent times, and they're in this age group between 20 and 40, and they chose the wrong partner in life.

One was saved, and the other was an unbeliever. That never was God's mind. I'll just tell you about one simple case.

Dear soul, lovely young woman, she fell in love with this young man in her own age group. She was around 25 years of age. She was in the assembly.

He was an unbeliever. By and by, they got married, and when they came home from their honeymoon, he took her round to the city and the part, the location of the gospel hall. He said, we're stopping here, and I want you to take a look at that building, for you'll never walk through the door again.

I met her sometime after that. She said, I made an awful mistake. I've had a dreadful life.

Choose you this day, whom you will serve. There's all kinds of examples. I know others, for example, in the commercial world, where they got involved with an operation of whatever the product they're giving.

One was a believer, and the other was an unbeliever. A disaster has followed. If you had met Moses when he's 120 years of age, and he's about to go to Mount Nebo and into eternity, and you would say, now Moses, whenever you were a younger man, did you make the right choice? Absolutely.

Only one life will soon be passed, and only what's done for Christ will last. I have come today to appeal to you. In certain areas, we're losing the 20 to 40 age group, and are going to other claims.

I'll just tell you about one. A young fellow, he was in the assembly. He saw the temptation of going to other locations, and the grass was greener on the other side of the fence till he arrived there.

30 years rolled round. I met him at a funeral. He said, would you have time to talk to me? I said, absolutely.

He sat there. He wept his heart out. I says, I remember the day you told me, putting your lot into the assembly here, and do all you can to help.

But I was not contented, and I left. I made a mistake. I said to him, there's time for you to make a change.

There's always a way back. I can see him yet. He just bowed his head, and he wept his heart out.

I said, Stan, the price is too great. I hope there's nobody here in the 20 to 40 age group has made the wrong decision, and after you have, there's always a way back. But always remember what God desires for your life.

Let me talk for a minute or two about the next stage. Now, we're into the fall of the year. Between 40 and 60, you might be here today.

Right away, we think of maturity. We think of careers being settled, and people moving on. You see, in this nation and other nations in the Western civilization and hemisphere, the folk that are between 40 and 60 are taking the big responsibilities in many claims and different places.

Right away, I think of David. Brother Murray has talked a little bit about him. You see, when he was a young man of 30 years of age, he was on the throne for 40 years, and the most of that time was in this age group that I'm talking about now, 40 to 60.

He had some triumphs for God. He was used and allowed by God to extend the borders on the territory of the land of Israel to its greatest limits. That's what Solomon got when he came to the throne.

He was a mighty man. He had tremendous potential, but one day, he made a dreadful mistake. I tell you, there's some sad cases, but I want to stick with what the Bible is.

This man was guilty of adultery and murder by proxy, and in the dispensation of the law, the only way to handle that was death. People ask, how did he get away with it? Well, I can't explain. All I can suggest is, under the sovereignty of the God of heaven, he allowed him to recover from those dreadful things.

One day, he came back to the throne, and I would like to submit, you might not agree with this, but I would like to submit that David was never the same. After he failed the way he did, even though he was on the throne until 70 years of age, all of us, none of us are home in heaven yet, and in this age group, there's been so many tragedies, even in recent times, but break your very heart. Beware of the middle age crises.

Let me spend a minute or two on the next one. Here's the winter of life. Sixty years plus are behind.

There's a number in this audience in the winter season of life, between 60 and 80, and I read you that verse, a man 120 years of age, and he talked about the four score years, and I just want to take that out of its context and make an application. You see, a contribution can be made in every sphere of life and in assembly life of those are between 60 and 80 or beyond. One of the greatest examples in the Holy Bible is a man called Daniel.

As you read his book and you think of what he went through and how he came to that particular time in his life, he was in touch with God. He bore an unblemished testimony He had communion with divine persons to the extent that God opened the future to him, and he's likely one of the basic prophetic prophets of Old Testament revelation on what's the future ahead. One day in chapter 9 of Daniel, God opens the future to him, and Daniel's 70th weeks of prophetic years are unfolded to us, and that's the basic headline that everything else is based on, and just as we pass by, we're between the 69th year and the 70th year, and the age of grace is what we're privileged to live in.

It's right in between those two places. It'll send me over. How come that Daniel was such a useful man? Well, he was only a teenager in chapter 1. See, that answers to the first part of life, birth to 20 years.

He went up through those years 20 to 40 and 40 to 60 and 60 to 80 and beyond. Let me address this for a minute or two before I sit down. Dear brethren, it's the easiest thing in life when you're coming up to these years.

I've been impressed with this recently. Between 60 and 80 and beyond, the dear folk turn sour. They get disgruntled.

Some of them get arrogant. I'm talking about those in assembly life. Hard to deal with.

Get so frustrated because they're set aside for whatever reason. See this man, Daniel, he grew gracefully, and he matured and developed to the glory of God. One day, he's reading Jeremiah 29.

He recognizes the 70 years of captivity are over. It's time for the nation to get back to the place of the name. He's likely late 80s or thereabouts.

He physically can't go himself, but he encouraged others who were younger, and he stirred their hearts under the good guidance of God to get back to the place of the name. Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra, and those that followed. He couldn't go himself, but he recognized that younger men were required to move forward to the place of the name.

Now, let me just tell you again, this is very delicate. I have nobody in mind in this audience, but I am teaching you principles, and I have traveled a fair bit, and I can see that in certain areas, beloved brethren that have been so helpful all through the years, they can't see the need that younger men are required to develop the testimony and carry the torch of testimony until the Lord returns. I want you to think about that.

I was in a certain place not too long ago, and I said to the beloved brethren, this particular man has been a friend of mine for years. He's in his 90s. Well, he was then.

He's home in heaven now, and I said to him, brother, that's none of my business, but I would like to ask you, have you ever considered encouraging younger men to help in these matters here? Now, here's his answer. He said, brother, there's nobody here fitted for the job. Well, I said, brother, with all due respects to you, maybe you haven't tried to bring them on.

See, it's a two-way street. We just suffer a word of exhortation, and you're in the winter season of life. We need to encourage younger men.

Now, I understand they have to have the goods, and I understand they have got to prove God themselves, and they've got to learn God, but we're in it together. I said to this other beloved brother, I said, you know, responsibility in God's assembly and spiritual gift doesn't end with this generation in their late 80s. The Lord be not come.

There are other generations coming on. We need to encourage them. I'd like to ask you today, beloved brother and sister, are you encouraging younger married couples that have the goods to take responsibility in God's assembly or preach the gospel or minister the word or whatever before the Lord returns? Dear brother, it's a real concern today, and we thank God for those that recognize that younger men are required, any of us.

If other older brethren hadn't taken an interest in us, we wouldn't be here today. I'm telling you. I don't want to mention names or anything, but it's a great need.

It's a burden on my heart today wherever we go that if the Lord be not come, younger people are required and the backbone of our assembly testimony is young married couples and middle-aged and all the rest of it. All right. Time to stop.

Do you see as you survey your life and I survey mine, I want to ask you a question. In your view, in all honesty, you talk about being faithful. Do you feel that you have contributed to the best of your ability in the years of your life to this point? Here's the next question.

Whatever little time is left between now and the Lord comes where we leave this life, are you prepared to do more than ever you have done before? And to use our brother's expression, to be so faithful that the Lord will be honored in all things wherever you come from. See, we're very concerned because there are assemblies in different parts of the world today and even in the last 12 months have closed the doors. Younger people have no interest for whatever reason.

Older men have left and gone to heaven and the door is closed. Are you up for the challenge today? Maybe somebody here has missed the road and what God had intended for you, dear friend, you missed out and maybe your mindset is, well, I'm no use. I'm finished.

And I want to tell you that there's always a way back and there's always recovery, but we need to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. And in that lane, Psalm 51 is outstanding. And the man got back to God.

The Lord stir our hearts today. Whatever age group you're in, are you in this springtime of the year? Are you saved? Somebody says, thank God I am. Well, make your life count for God.

See, in the summer part, that's when you have got to make decisions as you move forward. See, if you're in the fall time, where now you have responsibility, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all your might. Why? Well, there's the winter season coming on.

And I understand people can say, well, I'll never make it. Well, if God has been kind to do that, please make your life count for God and do all you can to fulfill divine purpose in your day and generation. And the Lord will bless you and you'll understand the Lord Jesus Christ is first in my life.

The Lord bless each one as we continue. Thank you very much.