Ecclesiastes chapter 11. That's in the Old Testament,
Ecclesiastes. If you can find Psalms and Proverbs,
just keep on turning a little further past that
and you will come across Ecclesiastes chapter
11. We're going to start in verse 9. We'll read
that and pray, but we're going to dip on over
into Ecclesiastes 12. as well. Ecclesiastes chapter
11 verse 9 We'll read through this verse, then
we'll pray. Rejoice, young man, while you are
young. And let your heart be glad in the days
of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart
and in the sight of your eyes. But know that
for all of these things, God will bring you to
judgment. Let's pray. God, we come to you. We
thank you for your good word. And I pray, God,
that in these few moments that you would help
us to be free of the distractions and the worries
of the world. I pray that your Holy Spirit would
be with us this morning, that we would hear from
you, that you would meet us where we are. You
know what our struggles are and our sins are
and our worries are and our pains are, and I
pray, God, that we would just bring those before
you this morning. I pray, God, that you would
be with me, that I would preach and teach in
a way that brings glory and honor to you, God.
There are no words that I can say that are any
good if they do not come from you. So I pray
that you take away any pride or fear that is
within me and let your Holy Spirit lead us this
morning. All for your kingdom and all for your
glory. In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen. If you've
never read the book of Ecclesiastes, I would
encourage you to do it. Be prepared, though.
It doesn't really read like a lot of the other
books in Scripture. And it can seem... Quite
depressing as you read through the book because
what the author of Ecclesiastes, probably Solomon,
points out is really there's not a whole lot
in this life that matters. Everything we do is
vanity is a phrase that we see often in the book
of Ecclesiastes. It's all vanity. It's all worthless.
It's all useless in some sense. We work hard
and we... build up a bunch of wealth or we obtain
a lot of land or we buy a nice home or or whatever
it is not not necessarily that all those things
are bad some things are some things aren't but
at the end of the day everything's going to be
gone we're going to be gone everything we have
is going to be gone and what's the purpose of
life that's kind of the That's kind of the idea
here. Is there something more than what we see
with just all of the materialistic and the worldly
things that we see? Well, by the end of the book,
we do see his main point at the end of chapter
12. And that is when all is said and done, we
are called to fear God. and keep his commands.
That's ultimately what matters. That's ultimately
what the book of Ecclesiastes is leading us to.
And you're saying, well, good, I don't have to
read it now. You just told me the whole book
in about two minutes. But you need to read it
because you'll probably relate with a lot of
those things. You'll probably relate with a lot
of the difficulties about how hard life is and
how frustrating it is and how sometimes you just
want to give up. But we have to remember as we
go through this life is that there's... More
to it maybe than just what we see in a worldly
sense. That we serve a God who created us. And
that's who we need to remember and that's who
we need to focus on. And that's the point here
as we look at Ecclesiastes 11 and Ecclesiastes
12. He gives us a good command. He says rejoice
young man while you are young. Now how many in
here are young? What is young? I don't know what
young is. I guess it depends on who you ask.
It's all relative. Mr. Fred, he just turned 97
this week. I expect to him probably 75 seems
young. Those of you who are 75, you might think
60 seems young. And so it goes down the list.
But what's the call right here for us? He says
rejoice, young man, while you are young. Now
why is that? Well, the fact is real simple. As
you get older, there are just things that you
can't do that you used to do when you were young.
It's going to happen. Now, I'm only 42. I think
that that's young. But there are some things
that I do now that used to not bother me, and
now they do bother me. Now, I don't run very
much these days, but I used to run when I was
younger. And now when I try to run, I run like
an old man. And somehow, between like... 35,
which was probably the last time I ran any decent
amount of time. And 42, it's like I've forgotten
how to run. You know, here's something else.
When you're young, y 'all don't even appreciate
this yet. When you're young, you can just get
up and go do what you want to do. If you want
to get up and go play baseball, football, basketball,
whatever, you ain't even got to stretch. You
can just jump out of the bed in the morning and
you can go. And you're not going to pull nothing.
But you try that when you turn 40. If you don't
stretch, you're going to be in trouble. That's
just part of it. You've got to stretch a little
bit. And so while we are young, we have a lot
more ability to do things. Our eyesight is good.
We can hear better. We're stronger. Our balance
is good. All of these things go as we begin to
get older. Those things begin to go, and they
begin to go quickly. And so what does he say?
His point is... I'll sum it up as we get into
it, is that life is short. Life is short, and
you're only going to have a limited amount of
time that you're really going to be able to do
things. At some point, you're not going to be
able to do the things you used to do. So what
does he say? He says, Rejoice, young man, while
you are young, and let your heart be glad in
the days of your youth, and walk in the ways
of your heart and in the sight of your eyes.
Okay, we need to be glad in the days of our youth.
Now, a lot of times we're not glad in the days
of our youth because there's a lot of things
we can do in our youth that we're not glad about.
I'll give you an example. Yesterday, beautiful.
I love the fall. I don't want to do anything
in the summer. I hate the summer. It's my least
favorite time of year, but I love the fall. Boy,
it's cool because it's all kind of yard work
and stuff that I like to do, and I like to do
it when it's cool. And so I got out there yesterday
morning, and weeding is not as bad when it's
cool. it's still bad but it ain't as bad i get
out there and you weed eat and you gotta you
gotta trim your shrubs back and i cut grass all
day yesterday from 8 30 till about 4 30. i cut
grass a lot of grass just cut grass and cut grass
and cut grass and i had to pick up limbs and
some big limbs and big pieces of trees that had
fell and i had to cut limbs and i had to pile
limbs up and i had to do all this stuff and we
may be tempted when we're younger to complain
about that I don't want to do all that. I'm tired
of cutting grass. I'm tired of picking up limbs.
I'm tired of cleaning the house. I'm tired of
washing clothes. I'm tired of washing dishes.
But there's a lot of people that as they've gotten
older, guess what they do every day? They lay
in the bed. They sit in their chair. And you
know what they do? They look outside and they
say, boy, I wish I could get out there and work
in the yard. So we need to think about that before
we complain. Now, I understand it's hard work.
I understand. But we need to realize that in
some way that hard work is a blessing. That I
can be able to go out there and pick up those
limbs. I don't enjoy it. That's not my favorite
thing to do. Like I don't just say every week,
man, Lord, please blow a good wind because I
want to pick up some more limbs. I don't enjoy
it that much. But there needs to be some enjoyment.
When we're having to work hard and we're having
to really put in overtime. That we're having
to make that extra money so we can pay our bills.
So we can put shoes on our kids' feet. And it's
hard work. And you sacrifice sleep. All of those
things are tough. But you need to rejoice in
those things. That you've got a kid you can provide
for. And a wife you can take care of. And a husband
you can be there for. It's not always easy, and
sometimes we complain about these things, but
maybe there is some rejoicing that needs to take
place. Maybe he's not just saying rejoice that
you can play football without stretching and
pulling a hamstring. Maybe he's saying enjoy
some of the things that we don't enjoy. Realize
that one day you're not going to be able to do
these things. One day you're not even going to
be able to dress yourself. One day you're not
going to be able to make it to the bathroom on
time. These things are coming for us. We need
to rejoice in the things that we're able to do
while we're young. Even the things that we may
not realize are good now, they are better than
we think. And so the author of Ecclesiastes says,
look, life is short. That's the title of this
sermon. Life is short and then you die. You say,
boy, that's kind of depressing. Well, that's
kind of the book of Ecclesiastes. That's kind
of life. I hate to break it to you. If you come
in here today and you didn't know that, That's
life, okay? So what are you going to do in that
time period? Life is short. One day you're going
to die. So what are you going to do? The author
of Ecclesiastes says make the most of it. He
says, and walk in the ways of your heart and
in the sight of your eyes. Now we've got to be
careful with that right there. What I don't think
he's saying is that's a blank check to do what
you want. Look, you're young. You only live once.
You're going to die. So go out whatever your
eyes see that you just go do what your heart
desires. I know that's what it says, but we got
to be careful how we take that. Because I don't
think what he's saying is just go party and throw
caution to the wind and not care about anything
else in the world other than what you want. I
don't think that that's what he's saying there.
I think that there are some things in life that
really matter, that are important. And we need
to understand what those things are. And when
our mind is right and when our heart is right
and when we are seeking God, our desires change.
Now when we live for ourself and we live for
the world, there are certain worldly things we
desire. But we don't want to follow after those
desires of the world. If we only took this one
little verse out of context, then maybe you could
make the argument that it says, YOLO, you only
live once, do what you want to do. But we have
to look at passages like these in light of all
the other scripture. And certainly that's not
the message of all of Scripture, is do what you
want to do. We're called to serve God. We're
called to live in obedience to Him. When we live
for ourself, then we have a certain set of desires
and things that our eyes see that we long for.
But there's something that happens in our life
once we begin to trust in the Lord. Once we begin
to put our faith in God, guess what? Our desires
change. The things that our eyes used to be drawn
to are not appealing to us anymore. And so we
do want to follow the desires of our heart and
the desires of our eyes, but if those desires
aren't founded on God and his word and his instruction,
then we're going to get ourselves in trouble.
I do think throughout the book of Ecclesiastes,
the author is telling us, look, you need to enjoy
life, not in a wild and crazy and sinful way.
But God has been good to us and he's blessed
us with a beautiful world. And I think it's okay
to enjoy that. I think God wants us to enjoy
this world and enjoy the people of this world
and enjoy the nature of this world. To go to
the lake. To sit on the cabin in the mountains
and look at the beauty of God and just reflect
in nature and enjoy the things that he blesses
you with and enjoy your family and enjoy your
church. And there are beautiful things that God
gives us. And I believe that God wants us to
have enjoyment in this life. It's pretty tough
when we don't have enjoyment. It's pretty tough
in seasons of difficulty. And sometimes we have
those seasons in life. They may last a week or
a month or... Maybe even a year or maybe longer.
Sometimes there's seasons where there's not too
much enjoyment. Or there's things that are really
tough and there's seasons that are really hard.
But when we can, when we're able to, we need
to enjoy the beauty of what God has blessed us
with. And we need to rejoice in it while we are
still young. Because one day, we're not going
to be young anymore. So he says, look. Go after
the desires of the heart, the thing that your
eyes see, the good things, not the sinful things.
And here's what we need to pay attention to.
But know that for all these things, God will
bring you to judgment. Now here's the good news.
We are free to do whatever we want to do. God
gives us free will. Praise the Lord. He does
not force us to do a single thing. You weren't
forced to come to this church today. You chose
to come. Well, I say that. Hopefully none of
you were forced to come. Hopefully you all come
with your free will. But we have free will to
do what we want. If you want to lie, cheat, and
steal, you've got free will to do that. If that's
what you want to do, you have the ability to
do that. If you want to help people and love
people and be gracious to people and meet the
needs of others, you're free to do that. You
can do whatever you choose to do. I can't make
you do anything. I guess the Lord could, but
he does not. He chooses to allow us to make our
own choices. You can do what you want to do,
but know this. Whatever you do, one day you're
going to stand before the Lord. But know that
in all these things, God will bring you to judgment.
Now that should impact our choices that we make.
You're free to choose anything. But you need
to know if you choose the wrong things that you're
going to have to answer to God for that one day.
And that should grab a hold of us. That should
get our attention. Perhaps this verse should
be a verse that we need to ask God to bring to
our minds as we are making decisions in our daily
life. And the things that we're about to say,
the words that are about to come out of our mouth,
maybe we need to think about this verse. Okay.
I can say whatever I want to say to this person.
But just know the words that are coming out of
my mouth. I'm going to have to answer to God
for those words. Maybe we'd think twice before
we said the things that we say or do the things
that we do. Knowing that I can do this thing.
I can punch this guy in the nose right now. He
said something to me. I didn't like I can bust
him in the nose. I can beat him down. I can do
that right now. But one day I'm going to have
to stand before God. That should guide our decisions.
That should help us to think twice before we
do what we want to do. So we follow the desires
of our heart. But you better be careful what
desires that you follow. For one day you will
have to stand in judgment before God. He continues
on in verse 10. Remove sorrow from your heart
and put away pain from your flesh. Because youth
and the prime of life are fleeting. That's kind
of an encouraging verse, right? Life is tough,
life is sad, life is hard. But what does he say?
Remove sorrow from your heart and put away pain
from your flesh. Because you're young. You've
got to live, you've got to go, you've got to
do while you're able to do. You don't have time
to lay around and feel sorry for yourself. You
have to get up and you have to keep going and
life goes on. Don't be depressed. You're young.
Life is short. You've got to make the most of
the time that you have. Because one day you're
going to wake up and you're going to be old.
It is unbelievable how fast life goes. When you're
young, you don't realize it. When you're young,
life goes so slow. And I'm still not terribly
old, but even at 42, you look back one day and
you say, where have the years gone? It just doesn't
seem right. I see parents sometimes with small
children and I'll hear them tell other, or grown
children, I'll hear them tell other parents with
small children, hey, you better cherish these
moments because they're in kindergarten today
and they'll be in college tomorrow. It goes so
quickly. Everything in life goes so quickly.
And you don't realize that when you're younger,
but that's why we need books like Ecclesiastes
to call this to our attention. That life is short.
You got to make decisions and you got to make
memories and you got to live for people and love
people and help people and make an impact for
the kingdom of God while you can. Because you
don't have forever. One day you're not going
to be able to get up and go and do what you want
to do. Praise the Lord, every one of you can
today. Every one of you was able to get here
today, praise the Lord, so we can still get up
and do a little bit. Not as much maybe as you
want to. Maybe not as much as you could do five
years ago. But we've got to make the most of
the time that the Lord gives us. Now flip over
to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. I love this section
of Scripture. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. We'll
start in verse 1. This is another call to the
young person. He says in Ecclesiastes 12, verse
1, So remember your Creator in the days of your
youth, before the days of adversity come, and
the years approach when you will say, I have
no delight in them. All right, this is a good
command for us, that we need to learn who God
is, that we need to know who God is. That God
is the creator of the heavens and the earth.
That God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ.
That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish
but have everlasting life. That our sins are
forgiven through Jesus Christ. That he was nailed
to a cross. That he was raised from the grave.
And by the price that he's paid, we can be healed
through Jesus Christ. The author of Ecclesiastes,
you need to know who God is when you're young.
You need to learn who God is. You need to know
the commands of God, the word of God, the instructions
of God. You need to trust in God and you need
to follow God. He needs to be your foundation
and he needs to be your strength. Why? Because
one day life's going to get tough. And when life
gets tough, who are you going to call on? And
praise the Lord if we follow. the Lord from a
youth and we're growing in him and seeking him
and looking at his word, then praise the Lord.
That's going to be our foundation. That's going
to be who we call to and who we hold on to and
who we pray to and who we seek in our times of
trouble. But if you don't know the Lord, who
are you going to seek? What are you going to
seek? Well, whatever it is, it's not going to
be able to give you the strength that you need.
Only the Lord can do that. I can guarantee you.
Only the Lord can give you the strength you need
today to get through what you're going through
today and what you'll go through in the future.
And the quicker we learn that, the better off
we're going to be. So remember the Creator in
the days of your youth. The quicker you learn
who God is and trust Him, the better you'll be.
And why? He says before the days of adversity
come. Days of adversity are coming. We face them
all the time. We face them when we're young.
We face them when we're old. Now, in the context
here, he's talking about old age. That's what
he's talking about. He's talking about here's
some advice to the young man because one day
days of adversity are going to come. That is,
you're going to get old, and when you get old,
life's going to be a lot harder than it is right
now. And the years approach when you will say,
I have no delight in them. Boy, that's a... That's
kind of a scary thing to think about, but it's
true. We all know it's true. Sadly, we have friends
and family. If you don't believe that those words
are true, then after service today, you need
to go over to any nursing home of your choice
and you need to walk down those halls and you
need to look at all those people. So many of
them in the bed can't move. Some of them can't
communicate. Some of them don't know who they
are. Where they're at, what's going on in the
world. I believe that those people would probably
say if they could communicate that they are living
in days that they have no delight in them. I
go see people sometimes, people in no shape.
It's not uncommon to hear older people say, I'm
just ready to go. I'm ready to go. Why? Because
they are saying exactly what this verse is saying.
They've got to a point in life where they have
no delight in their days. They had delight in
their days when they were younger, when they
could go and do and work and raise a family and
things were good. But as you get older, you can't
do those things. You have to depend on other
people. You become a bother or a burden. Those
are the biggest two words I usually hear from
older folks. I wish the Lord would take me home.
I'm just a bother to everybody. I'm a burden
to everybody. And do you know why they say that?
Because as we get older, we can't do the things
that we used to do. So we need to think twice
before we complain. We need to rejoice in the
days of our youth. Because one day, Should the
Lord permit, we're going to live long enough
that we're not going to be able to do those things.
It continues on in verse 2. Before the sun and
the light are darkened, and the moon and the
stars and the clouds return after the rain. Now
he's using a lot of symbolism here, a lot of
imagery to get his point across. Now as we read
these next few verses, What he's really talking
about is the decline of our bodies in old age.
But he uses different language to describe things
that we'll talk about. But here we see a good
example. The days are darkened, right? Days that
are bright and sunny are usually a lot happier
days for you than days that are dark. When it's
dark and it's cloudy and it's gloomy, that makes
you feel more depressed, even when you're young.
And especially maybe as we get older, those dark
days. That's the illustration. That's the symbolism
here. We understand what it means during dark
days. And as we get older, he says there's going
to be dark days. What's the best part about rain?
It's dark, it's cloudy, it's windy, it's stormy.
But at some point, the clouds clear and the storm
passes and the sun comes out. But he's saying
that as we approach our old age, that the clouds
return after the rain. No sooner than you get
through one dark day, it seems like there's one
dark day after another after another as we begin
to grow old. We have a lot more dark days than
we do bright days. He says in verse 3, On that
day when the guardians of the house tremble and
the strong men stoop. Now what's he talking about
here? The guardians of the house and the strong
men stoop. He's using symbolic language. He's
talking about our arms, our strength, the guardians
of the house. It's our arms that's been able
to protect us and provide for us so that we can
work hard and our strength begins to fail. The
strong men stoop. Our backs begin to give out.
Our legs begin to give out. We don't walk straight.
When you're young, you can walk straight with
your shoulders up. You watch some older people.
We don't have any in here, so don't look when
we leave today. But you watch some older people
when they get up and start walking. They kind
of stoop a little bit, right? We don't have the
strength we used to have. We can't stand up straight
like we used to. And that's what the author of
Ecclesiastes is pointing out. The women who grind
because they are few. Now, what's he talking
about there? Women who grind. He's talking about
our teeth. When we're young, we got teeth. We
can chew. We can eat. What happens as we get
older? Our teeth fall out. Now, praise the Lord,
modern technology, we can get new teeth. I don't
know if they could get new teeth back when he
wrote this. As we get older, our teeth begin
to fall out. The ones who watch through the windows
see dimly. What about our eyesight? Everything
seems a little dimmer in my eyes as I get a little
older. Anybody else ever experienced that before?
A few years ago, it could be almost pitch black
dark and I could read. Not anymore. I got this
thing that I'm reading this iPad. It's bright.
I got it bright because I can't see it if I don't.
Even with this light over me. Because everything's
a little dimmer. Everything that I see is a little
dimmer. And that's what he's talking about. Our
strength begins to go. Our teeth fall out. Our
eyes begin to grow dim. We can't see as good
as we used to. Verse 4. The doors at the street
are shut while the sound of the mill fades. Anybody
in here can't hear as good as you used to? Some
of you say, huh? Yeah, it's a lot of you out
there that's got hearing aids. Why? Because your
doors of the street, your ears are shut. The
sound of the meal fades. Things that used to
be loud that you could hear from a long way away,
now you can't hear anything. You can't even hear
your wife and she's sitting in the recliner next
to you. Or maybe you can. You just pretend like
you can. I don't know. But this is part of life.
It's not a fun part of life. Nobody likes to
lose their strength. Nobody likes to lose their
teeth. Nobody likes to not be able to see and
to be able to hear. But it's life. It's coming.
It's coming to all of us sooner or later if we
live long enough. When one rises at the sound
of a bird, it's hard to sleep when you get older.
The least little thing wakes you up. You just
can't rest as good as you used to rest. Sleep's
not as good as it used to be. The least little
thing will wake you up. And the daughters of
song grow faint. Same idea. Hear as good as you
used to. All the beautiful songs and the things
you used to hear, those things begin to grow
faint in your life. Also, verse 5, also they
are afraid of heights and dangers on the road.
Well, that happens, right? It should happen more
than it does. There's some people, they're 100
years old. They're out there. They can't see.
They can't hear. They can't do nothing. They're
just going full speed ahead. They say, I can
drive as good as I always could. And they were
running over stuff. I remember my grandma, one
day we were at the hospital with somebody, and
she had drove over there. She'd come up in the
room. She was like, well, I hit a truck in the
parking lot. And I was like, what? We were looking
at her. She was like, yeah, it's fine. I looked
at it. It wasn't no problem. Everything's fine.
I was like, you hit a truck? Yeah. She was probably
in her 80s at this point. Shouldn't have been
driving. So I said, we've got to go down there
and see what's going on. I went down there. She's
like, I barely touched it. It wasn't enough to
do nothing. So I go down there. I find her car.
There's no truck beside her car. They'd already
left just in that five minutes it took me to
get there. The front bumper of her car, the front
fender of her car, was, I'm talking about, all
caved in with green paint all down it. I barely
touched it. As we get older, we can't see as
good as we used to. We can't drive as good as
we used to. For the wiser ones, they realize
that, and they turn the keys over. For the unwise
ones, they argue about it, and the kids have
to take the keys, and it turns into a horrible
situation. But oftentimes you see, and probably
some of you experience this, you can't see good.
You can't drive good. First thing that happens,
you don't drive at night. Quit driving at night.
Why? Because we're afraid of the heights and
the dangers of the road. We know that we just
can't get around as good as we used to. The author
of Ecclesiastes points out a truth that we're
all familiar with. The almond tree blossoms.
Has anybody ever seen an almond tree blossom
before? You know what color it is? It's kind
of a white color. Anybody in here got any white
hair? Yep. That's right. The almond tree blossoms.
We get old. Our hair begins to turn white, and
our beards begin to turn gray and begin to turn
white. I was in the store the other day, and
I walked by a dude, and I was looking at something,
and he was looking at something, and then a second
later, he turned to me, and he says, Oh, I didn't
recognize that was you, Shannon. He said, I didn't
know you had that much white in your beard. All
right. Nice to see you, too. It happens, right?
We begin to get white as we get older. The grasshopper
loses its spring. Well, you see a grasshopper,
what? They get their legs the way they spring
up. They can fly a long way. And that's how we
can do them when we're young. We can spring up.
When you're young, you can get on the floor and
you can spring up. When you get old, you can't
do that so much. I get on the floor just about
every night and play with our puppy. And some
nights I don't get up as fast as I used to get
up. I'll turn the wrong way and be like, oh,
got something in my knee or in my side. Used
to, you could just spring up. When you're young,
your legs work good. You can spring up, you can
go, and you can do. But when you get old, he
says, the grasshopper loses his spring. The caperberry
has no effect. Now, caperberry is used, it's
like medicine. It's used for a lot of medical
purposes. At some point, even the medicines don't
help. Some of you take 15, 20 pills a day. You
still feel bad. And you say, I just don't know
what's wrong. I've got to find a new doctor.
I just don't know what's wrong. I know what's
wrong. You're over 80 years old. I know you don't
want to hear it, and I'm sorry. But the book
of Ecclesiastes tells us this way back then that
as we get older, even the medicines ain't going
to help. For man is headed to his eternal home.
He says when you start seeing these things, when
your eyes ain't working and your ears ain't working
and you got no teeth and your hair is white and
you can barely get up and move and your medicines
don't help and you still feel bad, he says man
is headed to his eternal home. Life is coming
to a close. Maybe it's a few weeks, maybe it's
a few years. But at some point in our life, these
bodies, as they begin to fail, we're going to
go. To our eternal home. Now what that eternal
home is. Well that's up to you. That's up to
you. The choices you make. Did you choose Jesus
Christ? Did you reject Jesus Christ? All those
things that he said. Follow the desires of your
heart. And the things that your eyes see. But
know that in all these things you'll stand in
judgment before God. He's talking to the young
people. He's saying, pay attention young people.
Pay attention. You can go and you can do and
you rejoice in that. But you better make good
choices in what you do. And you better know God.
And you better come to know Him and trust Him
while you're still young. Because one day here's
what's going to happen. And He goes through and
He tells us all the things. You're going to get
old and here's all the things that's going to
happen. And then you're going to die. Life is
short and then you die. And then you're going
to an eternal hole. You're either going to spend
an eternity with God or you're going to spend
an eternity in hell. One day, this life's coming
to an end. He says in the next verse, verse 6,
before the silver cord is snapped and the gold
bowl is broken. Now this is probably a reference
to, the spinal cord and the brain. It's hard
to know exactly what these are. Those are the
two most popular thoughts as to what he's speaking
of here. And the jar is shattered at the spring
and the wheel is broken into the well. Probably
talking about our heart. Our heart beginning
to fail. That's the wheel that spins the spring
that puts our blood all the way through us. Eventually
all of our body is going to shut down. Our brains
are going to shut down. Our hearts are going
to shut down. And then he says in verse 7, And
the dust returns to the earth as it once was,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it. One
day every single one of us is going to die. If
Jesus does not return, We're going to die. Life
is so short, men and women and children. Life
is so short. If you don't believe me, if you
don't believe that coming from a 42 -year -old,
you find you somebody that's lived into their
80s and their 90s, if you can find somebody 100,
and I want you to ask them if life is short or
not. Life is so short. What kind of decisions
are you making? Are you taking care of your wife?
Are you taking care of your husband? Are you
taking care of your kids? Are you helping people
around you that you can help? Are you being a
light to the world? Are you trusting in the Lord?
Do you know who God is? Have you trusted in the
creator of the heavens and the earth? Is he your
foundation? Is he your strength? Have you trusted
in Jesus Christ? Do you know that your sins are
forgiven today? Do you know that God loves you?
Do you know that there are dark days ahead, but
we serve a God who can strengthen you and be
with you? Even if you make it to 100 years old
and the days are dark and your body is shut down,
did you know that God still cares for you? That
He has not left you? and that one day this old
world's going to come to an end, and when it
does, God's going to take you home to be with
him if you've trusted in Jesus Christ. There's
a lot of things that we do and that we waste
our time on that don't amount to a hill of beans,
that ain't going to make any difference in this
world. The author of Ecclesiastes says we need
to do things that will. Make a difference. And
you need to do them while you can. Because one
day you will not be able to. So rejoice in the
Lord while you are still young. Next time you
want to complain about something you're able
to do. Maybe you need to think twice. Maybe while
you're doing something that you would rather
not do. And you rejoice in the Lord. Maybe you
think about a brother or sister in Christ. got
a home that's grown up with weeds or limbs that
need picking up and maybe their day has passed
and they're no longer able to do it. Well, rejoice,
man and woman in your youth. You can go help
them. Those are the things that make a difference.
That's what makes the world go round. Even those
who are older, they still have something to contribute
to society. They still... are important. They
still have wisdom that they can impart to those
of us who are young. Let us love those who are
older. Let us provide for those who are older.
Let us seek the wisdom of those who are older.
Rejoice, young man, while you are young because
one day every one of us will have to stand before
the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your
good word. I pray, God, that you would just help
us if we're younger to seek you and to try to
make the most of the days that you give us, God,
that we would rejoice in our strength and our
abilities and our blessings that you put before
us. I pray for those, God, who may be a little
older and maybe there is discouragement there
for not being able to do the things that they
once did. Maybe there's frustration and maybe
there's dark days and maybe there's sadness.
I pray that you would strengthen them today,
God. I pray that they would call out to you and
that they would seek you. God, that you would
be their strength until the day comes that you
would take them home, God. I pray that as your
people, that you would help us to take care of
those, dear Lord, who... who may not be able
to take care of themselves in the same way that
they once did, that we would use our strength
to strengthen them, and that, God, they would
use their wisdom to strengthen us. I thank you
for this church. I thank you for these folks
that are here, dear Lord. You know where everybody's
at today. You know their hearts. You know their
struggles. You know what's going on in their
life, and I pray, God, that if there's one here
today that does not know Jesus Christ, That maybe
today through your word, their eyes have been
opened. Maybe today they know that there are
some things in their life that should not be
there that they need to repent of, God. You call
us to repent, to turn away, to stop doing what
we've been doing, to ask you to forgive us, dear
Lord, to stop living for ourself and to start
living for you, God. I pray that if there are
any that came into this building today that do
not know Jesus Christ, that maybe the Holy Spirit
now is convicting them. And even now, God, that
they would pray to you and ask you to forgive
them, that they would follow Jesus Christ. God,
maybe there are some here today and they're yours,
but maybe they just see areas that they need
to do a little better. I pray that you would
help us to see those things and to grow in you,
dear Lord, that we would do the things that you
desire for us to do. And I ask these things in
Jesus' name. Amen.