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TEXT: Psalm 31:15a
SUBJECT: Temptation
This Scripture introduces a subject of some importance to all Christians--and to the men of this church in particular. For as I look out on you, I see that most are "Baby boomers", born between 1945 and 1960.
This means that you're entering--or well into--the middle years of life. They may be your most productive. Or least useful. Under Providence, it all depends on how you respond to what is commonly called "the mid-life crisis".
This temptation can be informally defined as "feeling old". It may dawn on you gradually or be triggered by a single event. A man looks in the mirror to discover that his "salt and pepper" hair has lost all its "pepper". Getting up in the morning, he finds his once nimble body stiff and sore. The significance of a thirty-fifth or fortieth birthday hits him with the subtlety of a thunderbolt.
The symptoms of this condition differ from man to man:
To some, it is a mild anxiety. No one even knows about it, but it bothers him nonetheless.
Others take it harder still. One man is gripped by a sense of waste and despair. The recent years were not well-spent. Education was not finished. Career was sidetracked. Opportunities were lost. All that remains are the ravages of age and death. "What have I done with my life?" he cries, though only to himself.
And more than a few suffer acutely. One, with the vain hope of recapturing his youth, leaves his middle-age wife for a girl half his age. Another, oppressed by despair, chooses death over life and dies at his own hand.
This condition may be more common than you'd think--even among mature and sensible Christians. David, it seems, once struggled with it. As a boy he had cut down Goliath. But years later, the giant's son took on the aging king--and would have killed him--had not Abishai come to his aid. On that day "the men of David swore to him, `You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel'".
Could anything be more humiliating to the warrior-king? Yet the time had come for him to hang up his armor. Surely, this must have disturbed him something awful.
I wonder if even Paul did not feel the tension from time to time. "The outward man perishes, but the inward man is renewed day by day" was not written by a man in the bloom of youth, but one painfully aware of his own mortality.
It is, therefore, a common temptation. And a mighty dangerous one, too. Thus, it ought to be stoutly resisted. Must be. And can be. "For no temptation has taken you except that which is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what is able, but will, with the temptation, make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it".
But how do we do it?
1.We remember that our lives have not been wasted, but have unfolded according to "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God".
a.At this point, the Shorter Catechism is helpful:
1.What are the decrees of God? The decrees of God are eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby for His own glory, He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.
2.What are God's works of providence? God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all of His creatures and all of their actions.
b.If this is true, then it follows that your life (with all its failures) is decreed and supervised by a holy, wise, and powerful God. And He has done this, for His own glory, and for the salvation and happiness of His people. Your life, therefore, has not been misspent.
c.This is illustrated best in the life of Joseph. His first seventeen years were full of promise. But the next dozen years or so were blasted by a withering Providence: betrayal, servitude, and prison. But were these hard and unproductive years wasted? No one who recalls his story would think so. They led to the presidency of Egypt and his family's salvation. "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good".
d.Another example is Israel's wilderness experience. They left Egypt and came to the gateway of Canaan in a few months. But then, they were turned back, and suffered forty long years of wilderness pain. A "lost generation" if there ever was one. But--sorry--that's just not so. They learned things in the desert that a rich land could have never taught them, one in particular: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God".
e.If, therefore, you're upset and despairing over missed opportunities, stop! Your life has not been wasted, because "Your times are in His hands".
2.We recall that life's setbacks are often more useful to us than its victories.
a.You should not wring your hands over the past, because its failures are good for you. The classic Scripture on the subject, of course, is Romans 8:28: "All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose". But the "all things" here employed means: "the sufferings of this present time, its futility, it bondage, its corruption, its birth pangs, and its groanings".
b.What was more useful to Samson than that time spent on the grist mill? While there, he probably thought that he was wasting his life. Israel's mightiest judge reduced to a beast of burden. But was he? Were the months spent at the mill squandered? No. For they humbled him and finally made him God's champion. "So the dead that he slew with his death were more than they which he slew with his life".
c.And so, a good way to avoid useless remorse and beat a mid-life crisis, is to recall that your past failures will pay future dividends. And rich ones at that.
3.We recall that God has great things for us now.
a.Great blessings are often withheld till later years. Thus, rather than shriveling up, you ought to be bursting with expectation. It was an 84 year old Anna who saw the Lord; a 90 year old Sarah who bore the son; a Moses, aged 120 years, saw the promised land; and 500 year old Noah who built the ark.
1.If God will not forsake us when we're "old and grey headed", why should we so dread the arrival of middle age?
b.But not only does God have great blessings for the no-longer-young, but great responsibilities too. "Be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, and in patience".
c.But most of all, He places great value on the maturer years. "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be worn in righteousness".
d.And so, middle age is not a time for slackening our efforts and settling down for the grave. It should be spent energetically and for the glory of God. "Teach us to number our days, that we might apply our hearts to wisdom".
4.We recall that "our salvation is nearer than when we first believed".
a.This is where many Christians gravely err. As they pass through the middle years, they begin thinking about the imminence of death. But that denies the Gospel. For years do not bring the Christian nearer death, but life, the full enjoyment of salvation!"
And so, dear brothers, instead of hankering after a long lost youth or worrying about a bleak future, we ought to:
1.Be thankful for the middle years God has so kindly given us.
2.Use the knowledge they lend for His glory and for helping younger brethren.
3.Look to the future with eagerness. For whatever it holds, we can be sure that God holds it and will work it for His glory and our good.
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