Let's take our Bibles now and open them to Ecclesiastes.
Once again to Ecclesiastes looking in verses
or we'll say chapter 11 verse 7 and taking it
through chapter 12 verse 8. And as we do that
you can see that we are Coming towards the conclusion
of this wonderful book, and even with this second
to the last sermon in this series, we recognize
how badly we need the Spirit's help in understanding
what is here. Ancient Church Father Jerome said
of what we're going to look at today, he said,
this is the hardest section the hardest book.
Now not to quibble with Jerome but I find many
sections of Ecclesiastes very difficult but no
doubt we do need the Spirit's help and so I'm
gonna read Ecclesiastes 11, 7 and take it through
12, 8. If you're still looking Ecclesiastes is
located just past Proverbs which is just past
Psalms If you get into the prophets of Isaiah
and Jeremiah, Ezekiel, you've gone too far, but
this is Ecclesiastes 11, 7 through 12, 8. Please
give attention to the reading of God's word.
Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes
to see the sun. Okay, so far so good, not too
hard yet. So if a person lives many years, Let
him rejoice in them all, but let him remember
that the days of darkness will be many. All that
comes is vanity. Rejoice, oh young man, in your
youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days
of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart
and the sight of your eyes, but know that for
all these things, God will bring you into judgment.
Remove vexation from your heart and put away
pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of
life are vanity. Remember also your Creator in
the days of your youth, before the evil days
come and the years draw near of which you will
say, I have no pleasure in them, before the sun
and the light and the moon and the stars are
darkened. and the clouds return after the rain.
In the day when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men are bent, and the grinders
cease because they are few, and those who look
through the windows are dimmed, and the doors
on the street are shut when the sound of the
grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound
of a bird, and all the daughters of song are
brought low. They are afraid also of what is
high. terrors are in the way the almond tree
blossoms the grasshopper drags itself along and
desire fails because man is going to his eternal
home and the mourners go about the streets before
the silver cord is snapped or the golden bowl
is broken or the pitcher is shattered at the
fountain or the wheel broken at the cistern and
the dust returns to the earth as it was, and
the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity
of vanities, says the preacher. All is vanity.
This is God's word. Let us pray. Holy Spirit,
we give you thanks for this word and we ask that
you would unfold it for us and that you would
grant us understanding that from it we would
grow in our faith and that we would leave from
the sanctuary knowing Christ better because of
this text, these things we ask in His name. Amen.
For decades research has shown a depressing trend.
Once teenagers finish high school, go off to
college, maybe enter the workforce, a large percentage
of them leave the church. Newfound freedom for
young people, oftentimes the freedom to worship
God or to not worship God. And for decades, roughly
two -thirds of young people, when they have that
freedom, They pull away from the church. Some
leave never to return. Others leave intending
to come back. They say, well, once I've graduated
college or once I've got a real job, once I am
married, once I have children, then I will return
to the church as if faith in Jesus Christ is
only for those over the age of 30. Recent trends,
though, show a slight uptick, especially amongst
young men. The Barna Research Group surveyed
last year over 500 American Protestant pastors
and found 40 % of them reporting greater involvement
amongst young men between the ages of 18 and
35. That sounds good, right? That's worth celebrating,
isn't it? But hold on. Trends are not as positive
amongst young women. And overall, what are we
really talking about? But less than 30 % of the
American population, less than 30 % participates
regularly in worship. Now, why am I sharing these
statistics with you? Am I preaching to the choir
because you're here? Well, yes, I am. And the
message for you is this. Remember your creator
in the days of your youth. Remember your creator
in the days of your youth. That's what we're
talking about today. Additionally, we're also
covering familiar territory again too. We're
gonna talk about joy. Now when we began the book
of Ecclesiastes, I wonder how many of you thought
we would spend so much time on joy, but it's
here in this book. And so just. Two main points
for you, two verbs really for you this morning.
Rejoicing in verses seven through 10 and in remembering
in chapter 12, one through eight. We are not
to put off rejoicing and we are not to put off
remembering God. You were made to do this right
now. Let's look at rejoicing first in chapter
11, seven through 10. This is obviously near
the end of the book. And Solomon names his audience,
doesn't he? He uses two different words to refer
to youth. He talks about youth, but he also talks
about young men or a young man. But even as he
seems to direct this towards younger people,
I think that we can all receive this. This kind
of instruction is for all who are able to receive
it. And so look at verse nine, rejoice. This
is an imperative, meaning it's a command. How
interesting it is that we need a command to rejoice,
right? I think that tells us something about
ourselves. David Gibson says here, enjoyment
is not only permitted, it is commanded. It's
not only an opportunity, it is a divine imperative.
This is a reminder of God's good gifts. and a
call for us to remember them and enjoy them.
This is not to put off enjoyment. Both rejoicing
and remembering as we will see are to be done
right now. Don't put off enjoyment, friends.
God has given you good gifts. And through Christ,
he has given himself. We are to enjoy him and
enjoy what he gives to us. Why? Because we're
not promised tomorrow, are we? And secondly,
we should recognize, as I'm sure you all do,
there are dark days ahead. I've said it before.
You're either coming out of trouble or you're
in trouble. or you will soon be going into trouble.
And so we need to rejoice right now while we
can to enjoy God's gifts. That's a problem with
many Christians. That's actually a problem with
many men. If I can be open and honest with you,
sometimes I think I'm a little bit grumpy at
times. And perhaps some of you feel that way
about yourselves. Friends, again, this is a command
to enjoy God, to enjoy this, to enjoy one another,
and again those good gifts that God gives to
us. That's the first problem is we don't enjoy,
but secondly sometimes we pervert. those good
gifts that God gives to us. And this is a heinous
crime that people take the good things that God
gives and they ignore his commands about them.
They ignore God's commands about marriage. They
ignore God's commands about food and drink. They
ignore God's commands about money. Friends, true
enjoyment only occurs when we enjoy as God intends
for us too. And yet, many people call themselves
Christians, act like it's the Wild West out there.
As long as I'm not hurting anybody, I can do
whatever I want. But friends, that's a terrible
idea. Because look towards the end of verse nine.
But know that for all these things, God will
bring you into judgment. And this is why I believe
verse 10 calls us to remove anger, to remove
vexation, to remove wickedness, to remove evil,
whatever your translation says. This is a call
to holy and joyous living while we still can.
Because the reality, and it's a reality that
we've seen all across the Ecclesiastes, is that
we are living in fleeting times. in a fleeting
world. Remember the word that appears throughout
this whole book. You didn't think we could get
away with the end of the book and not say, hevel,
vanity, right? It's all fleeting. And because
it's fleeting, we must do the second verb listed
here. We must remember. our Creator. Look at
verses 1 through 8 of chapter 12. Charles Bridges
said here, many have remembered their Creator
too late in life, but none too soon. There was
a man, once who was on his deathbed, and he,
for his whole life long, had ignored the gospel.
and he had turned down opportunities to go to
church and he had turned down opportunities to
be involved in Bible studies. It's not that the
man was adversarial towards these things, he
just didn't care for them. He felt that he had
better things to do with his time until he lay
on his deathbed and a friend came and sat next
to him and shared the gospel. and the dying man
believed. He received Jesus Christ into his heart.
He trusted in Christ before he breathed his last
breath. There is something wonderful about that,
obviously. And there is rejoicing in heaven over
such a conversion. But have you ever thought
about this? There's also a little bit of sadness
there. A confession of a wasted life. The confession
of missing out on a lifetime of true joy and
true service. Now certainly God is sovereign
over these times, but Solomon's point is that
the time to remember your creator is right now.
Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not when you're
30. Not when you have your dream job or 2 .5
children. The time to remember your Creator is
right now. And so if you're sitting in here in
this sanctuary and you're barely listening, if
you're sitting here just longing for this all
to be over, then I'm talking to you. Sit up and
listen. Pay attention and remember your Creator.
right now before it's too late. And indeed, that
word remember is a very rich word. I'm in chapter
12, verse one. Remember also your creator. This
word remember is more than simply just recalling
something. It's more than just saying, hey, do
you remember that time that we did this or that?
No, it's much more rich than that. This word
here in Hebrew actually carries an idea of commitment
because when God remembers his people, He acts
upon His covenant. If I can, I want to read to
you a few different texts here to show you what
I mean. Leviticus chapter 26 verse 45 says, I
am the Lord. But it's not just God remembering,
actually we have numerous texts that speak of
what it means for us to remember. And so let
me give you another one. This one is Numbers
chapter 15 verse 40. So you shall remember and
do all my commandments and be holy to your God.
I am the Lord your God who brought you out of
the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord,
your God. And so there's this understanding of
obedience that is here within this word, remember.
But there's also an idea of trusting in God,
calling out to him when we're in need through
the word remember, for perhaps you remember Jonah,
thrown overboard. And in chapter two, verse seven
of that book, he says, when my life was fainting
away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came
to you into your holy temple. And I could go
on and on, but what's all wrapped up in this
word, remember, is obedience, it's trust, it's
repentance all together. Indeed, remember, if
I can use that word, remember what Jesus said
to his disciples. Remember. I am with you always,
even to the end of the age. And so that word
remember also has this encouraging element to
it. But it's more than that. Continuing in chapter
12, verse one, not just examining the word remember,
but also examining the word creator. For why
doesn't the text just say, remember God? Wouldn't
that be sufficient? Well, friends, if you were
to look at this in Hebrew, you would actually
see that the word creator here is written in
the plural. And so I think that what Solomon
is doing here is echoing Genesis, because he
does that so many times. The creation, the count,
let us make man in our image. Again, it's written
in the plural. And so what this may be doing,
is reflecting on the very fact that the entire
Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, were all
actively involved in creation. And so remembering
is living before God, knowing he is our sovereign
maker, and obediently seeking his glory, repenting
of sin, and embracing Jesus. This kind of remembering
our creator is a lifelong. endeavor. And yet
far too many people call themselves Christians
and just seem to attend to God later on in their
lives. Sometimes we treat God like we're making
out a will. At some point in your lives, if someone
hasn't already done so, someone will tell you,
hey, it's time to make out a will, right? And
it's a good idea. It's a wise idea. But typically
people don't tell teenagers or young people to
make out of will. It's when you're older, you
have money, you started a family. It's what mature
people do. Well, friends, don't wait. Don't put
off knowing you're a creator in this way. Remember
the statistics. Young people expect that there
will be a time to come back to God, to come back
to the church. People act as if they'll live
forever. But you don't have that promise of forever,
not in this life. You don't have that promise
of tomorrow. The time is right now. And the way
this is written helps us to see that because
in chapter 12, verses one through eight, you
see the word before or something equivalent to
it three different times. Remember your creator
in the days of your youth before the evil days
come. Solomon is telling us here, The clock is
ticking. The clock is ticking. The days of youth
will fade. And our bodies will start to break
down. That's actually what this portion of the
text is really getting at here. It's showing
the signs of aging as we are moving further and
further towards our death. Indeed, Jeff went.
who is a wonderful pastor at Second, said of
these passages, this is Solomon's ode to death.
We are all like automobiles, driven off the lot
and beginning to depreciate. And we might be
coming into the prime of our lives, but soon
we'll need a tune -up. And soon those parts will
start to wear out. Indeed, many have looked at
this very closely as if to say that all of the
different statements, the verses in here are
referring to specific body parts that do wear
out. And we could certainly do that, but I want
us to get the big picture here. Friends, we are
all moving towards our death. We will either
die or the Lord Jesus will come back for us.
But as Solomon is writing here, he is writing
under the assumption that we will all die. And
so look at some of these pictures. I don't have
time to go over all of them, but verses three
through five. This is kind of a picture of a
once glorious house. But now it's in ruin. Or
what comes next in verse five, it talks about
the almond tree blossoming. There again, verse
five. This is the picture of an older person
with beautiful, a beautiful head of white hair,
a symbol of old age. And then what comes immediately
next is this mention of a grasshopper who drags
himself along. What's going on there? That grasshopper
no longer has the hop in him, does he? This is
all showing us that life is heavy. Life is fading.
Indeed, look in verse two. Before the sun and
the light and the moon and the stars are darkened
and the clouds return after the rain, over 30
times within the book of Ecclesiastes, the sun
is mentioned. But now, in the last chapter, the
sun goes dark. God turns off the lights. Indeed,
I believe that there's more going on than just
speaking personally, just speaking individually
about our own deaths. Actually, this text has
this kind of eschatological bent to it. Benjamin
Shaw, Professor Benjamin Shaw sees two eschatons
here. The individual eschaton referring to the
last days of one person's life, but secondly,
the last days of the world. Philip Riken says
here, our end time is like the end time. And
that's what makes this text so difficult. You
want to make a text challenging? Just make it
sound like Daniel or Ezekiel or Revelation, right?
Indeed, Ezekiel 32, seven and eight sounds like
this. I will cover the sun with a cloud and the
moon shall not give its light. All the bright
lights of heaven will I make dark over you. and
put darkness on your land, declares the Lord
God. Friends, that is judgmental language. That
sounds like day of the Lord type of language.
Now, Solomon has not been giving us a full doctrine
of last things here, but as he speaks here of
our end, I think he is speaking of the end of
this world as we know it, because our creator
has ordained a time when all that is truly heathen,
will really be Heavile. Our bodies break down
over time, but God has also appointed a time
for the end of our present age. Theologians call
this the Church Age that will continue on all
the way until Jesus returns. And so the time,
friends, the time to know Christ is right now.
Either because of our own aging, toward the grave
or because Christ will come like a thief in the
night. You don't know the time. Your present
age in the world will be met with an appearance
before God. Indeed, look again at verse five.
There's this kind of picture, and I think it's
verse five, this picture of a funeral procession
going through with mourners on the sides of the
road here. Again. It's showing us that it's time
to remember your creator is right now, not when
you're in the coffin. Indeed, he kind of pauses
with the metaphors for a second, and he says,
he mentions your eternal home. Very literally,
eternal home is the long home. It's what happens
after this life. And then he uses more imagery
here in verse six, the silver cord, the golden
bowl. These are things of value that once brought
light and now it shows these things are smashed.
Or what's next, the pitcher shattered and the
wheel broken. This is a picture of no more water,
things that we need for life, such that we can
say right along with Solomon here, the return.
to the dust. He is remembering Genesis 3 .9.
For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
He is showing us that life dries up. And so friends,
what happens after that? Where is this all going?
Well, again, look back at chapter 11, verse nine,
the end of that verse, as he mentions the judgment
here. The book of Hebrews says it is appointed
once for man to die and then the judgment. This
is not reflected in the ESV. It might be reflected
in your translation, but Hebrew manuscripts typically
carry a definite article there in Ecclesiastes
11 .9, such that we're not talking about a generic
judgment. We are talking about the judgment,
the day of judgment, which I believe fits with
the apocalyptic nature. of this passage. And
so what is the judgment? From Westminster Confession
of Faith 33, God hath appointed a day wherein
he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus
Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given
of the Father, in which day not only the apostate
angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons
that have lived on the earth shall appear. before
the tribunal of Christ to give account of their
thoughts, their words, and their deeds, and to
receive according to what they have done in the
body, whether good or evil. Friends, that's all
persons. There is a mistaken thought amongst
Christians that Christians won't have to be at
the judgment. That's wrong. We all will. And
we will all have to give an account for how we
have lived. And what that means is that what
you do right now, the way you spend your time,
the way you spend your money, the way you spend
your talents and your gifts, the way that you
serve other people, the way that you love other
people, all of that matters for eternity. Because
all things will be called into judgment. all
things. Now we're not saved by these things.
Jesus does that. But these things, the way that
we live, testify to our saving faith. And so
you see, friends, you know this about yourselves.
We are all sinful. We all fall short of the glory
of God. And therefore, the only way to stand
in the judgment is to fall at the feet of Jesus.
That's the only way. The only way to stand on
the judgment is to fall at the feet of Jesus
now. He took the full punishment of your sin
upon the tree. His substitutionary atonement
for all who believe in which we receive his righteousness
and he takes upon himself our sin. And we get
the good news. John 5 24, whoever hears my word
and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
He does not come into judgment, but he has passed
from death to life. That's the good news for
the believer. You don't get that good news if
you're not a believer. For the unbeliever. The
one who has not remembered the creator. The one
who has not given heed to the son in faith. This
is a terrifying and eternal reality. Judgment
that doesn't let up. Judgment that doesn't get
better. Judgment that is not hevel. It doesn't
pass away. Because unlike this life, eternal
life is not fleeting. And as there is no heaven
in eternal judgment, there is no heaven in eternal
life with Christ. Think about this section, especially
one through eight of chapter 12. Think about
all of the dark imagery that is in here. The
days of darkness, the vexation, the evil days,
the darkened skies, the clouds, the house falling
in, the terrors, the mourners, the funeral, and
the vanity of it all. This is life. under the
sun. But what God promises to you right now is
life with the sun, such that you can leave behind
your evil and sinful ways and be reconciled to
your creator now by believing in Jesus. Remember
the befores of this passage. Young people, don't
step away from the church thinking, I'll come
back to it when it suits my schedule. An older
crowd, don't lose heart. If I can, let me read
this to you. Don't lose heart from 2 Corinthians
4, 16 through 18. We do not lose heart. Though
our outer self is wasting away, our inner self
is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary
affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight
of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not
to the things that are seen, but to the things
that are unseen. For the things that are seen
are transient, but the things that are unseen
are eternal. And so congregation, hear me out.
Don't put off Christ. The one who isn't ready
says, come Lord Jesus, just not yet. I have a
few things to take care of. But for the believer,
we should be living in such a constant state
of repentance and love for God and obedience
to the scriptures that we would pray that second
to the last line of the Bible. Come Lord Jesus.
If I can be overly simplistic and yet use scripture,
at the end of the days, at the final judgment,
you're gonna hear one of two things. Depart from
me, for I never knew you. Or, well done, good
and faithful servant. And so Christian, press
on, rejoicing in God your creator, remembering
him. and giving praise for what he has done in
Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God,
we thank you that you have looked on us with
such mercy and compassion and kindness that you
have saved us from what we deserve. You've given
us Jesus Christ and I ask Lord that if there
be any within this sanctuary who have not remembered
you, who do not know Jesus, that you would fill
their hearts with your spirit and turn those
hearts to knowing Jesus Christ, who went through
it all for us. Father, as we wait for Jesus'
return, I ask you would help us at all times
to remember you, to not put off faith, But instead,
Lord, would you sanctify us more and more that
we would give ourselves to your worship, to your
study, and to your service? These things we ask
in Christ's name. Amen.