 So we're going to be looking at Ecclesiastes 12. I'll begin by just reading verse one and then going into our introduction and study. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Solomon writes, Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them. So remember that in verse 10 here in chapter 11, how Solomon had closed that portion by saying, therefore remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your flesh. He said, for childhood and youth are vanity. And so he had reminded us that childhood and youth are temporary. They're transient. In other words, our lives pass so quickly that we need to be aware of that and we need to prepare for our future. Why? Well, Hebrews 9.27 says that it's appointed unto us to die once and after this the judgment. And because judgment awaits all, we need to be prepared for that. We need to live as if we realize that because God will bring our lives into judgment. Now, enjoy your life, but keep an eye on the kingdom of God. So when we get into chapter 12, his final chapter of this book, well that chapter deals with the reality of aging and how to prepare for that. Now remember when you go through your Bible, very often you'll see that the Bible speaks of what is called the length of days. Length of days and that very often is speaking of a blessing from God. Life, length of days rather is a blessing that is tied in with a life of faith and a life of obedience. Proverbs 3.1 and 2, my son do not forget my law. Let your heart keep my commands for length of days and long life and peace. They'll add to you. Proverbs 22 verse 4, the reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor and life. And so that is what we have awaiting us as we trust in the Lord and as we follow Him is the blessing of a long life. Now some people have a difficult time with the reality of aging. We want to remain cool forever. We don't even realize that we're growing older and sometimes you just are and you don't know it. A while back down my wife Marie and I were walking holding hands and a young couple came walking in our direction and we're holding hands and I hear the young lady go, oh how cute. And so I'm thinking there must be some old people behind it. It was us. And she doesn't realize we hold hands so we don't fall down. It's just like that, right? Now this is a reality. Let me introduce it by saying something. Every person I think in this room and it depends on your age but all of us have and I call it a soundtrack. We all have a musical soundtrack. Whatever era you grew up that influenced you that you enjoyed whatever groups that's your soundtrack. Me it's obvious. Mine are the 60s. And a lot of people are aware of that. As a matter of fact there are some groups from the 60s. I don't know if you heard this or not. There are groups from the 60s that are re-releasing their songs that were such big hits and all. But they're taking it to consideration a few things and they're changing the titles as well as the lyrics in order that they might be able to accommodate those who are older. Let me give you a couple of examples. Like Herman's Hermits, you guys ever hear of them? Well they re-released one of their songs. Mrs. Brown, you've got a lovely walker. Creedence Clearwater Revival has bad prune rising. The Who talking about my medication. The Chogs, bald thing. Carly Simon, you're so varicose vein. The PJs, how can you mend a broken hip? Roberta Flack, the first time I ever forgot your face. Johnny Nash, I can't see clearly now. The Temptations, Papa's got a kidney stone. Abba's bringing out Denture Queen. Leo Sayre, you make me feel like napping. The Commodore has once, twice, three trips to the bathroom. Procal Hair, I'm a whiter shade of hair. And Beatles, I get by with a little help from Depence and so they're bringing these hits out for us. So anyway, that was very edifying, but it made me laugh putting those together for you. What we have here in Chapter 12 is an exhortation from Solomon. What he's saying is you need to be aware of your future and prepare for it. And what he's wanting to do is he's wanting to encourage us to prepare ourselves for our future now. Why? Because it's upon you and you just don't realize it. Like somebody once said, if I knew I would live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. Your future is approaching and you're not even aware of it. And so that's what he's saying in verse 1 when he begins this way. Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth before those difficult days. Pay attention to your walk with God and pursue Him from your earliest days. Consider who it is who has made you and consider what you've been made for. Now remember the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. And the way you can do this is found in Scripture. It's made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit. So the energy and the gifts that we have ought to be used in such a way as we might be glorifying Him. And so dedicating all that I am to God starts with knowing who He is and knowing that He's the one who has created me. Like it says in Psalm 100 verse 3, know that the Lord, He's God. It is He who made us, not we ourselves. And so this understanding prompts us to worship the one who is worthy of worship. So we need to regard ourselves with humility because in doing so, wisdom is developed. Wisdom is the result of recognizing that we are creatures and He's the creator. Like it says in Isaiah 64-8, but now, oh Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay and You are our potter. And all we are, we are all the work of Your hand. When you understand that we're simply the works of His hands, He's the creator, we're the clay, He's the potter. And you learn that and you live with the wisdom. You understand this and it produces humility. Because notice how He says, if you're doing this, remember now Your Creator in the days of Your youth, because He says, because before the difficult days come and the years draw near, when you say, I have no pleasure in them, difficult days speak of that which is wicked or unpleasant. The word difficult can be translated miserable or unhappy. Before these unhappy days, these miserable days, these harmful days come, He's saying unpleasant and unhappy days are inevitable. So be prepared. The longer that we live brings us to a time when we deal with more and more life events. That's just a fact of life. When you're young, you think you're going to live forever and you're always going to have great health. You really do. I did. And then you grow older and you discover that that's not necessarily promise. That's not necessarily part of what your future's going to really hold. And you begin to deal with things that can be harmful and hurtful. And sometimes you can see them as simple difficulties. But if I build my life on a solid foundation, I can have a better old age. And my life's experience will teach me that everything works out. As a matter of fact, somebody asked me a question. I've said this before. Perhaps you'll remember me saying this. But they asked me a question. They said, listen, you've been walking with the Lord for a while. That might help me. What is the one thing if you could gel down the years that you've walked with the Lord? I've walked with the Lord for 53 years. What is it that you've learned that you can give to me that can help me? You know the number one thing? I'll just tell you, it's very brief. It all works out. It all works out in the end. When you're young and you're worried about these things and all of that, you discover it all works out. It all works together for good. It all does. And as it works together, you discover how God is faithful to his promises. But when you're young, you can live an unrestrained life. And if you do live an unrestrained life, it can lead to difficulties when you grow older. Because sometimes we suffer for the way that we lived when we were young. I've had friends who, you know, like to share needles. And later on, three of them that I know of, at the top of my head just come to mind, boom, boom, boom, they shared needles. And three of them got hep C. One of them died as a result of that. And he was young and they're sharing needles. They didn't think anything of it. They didn't realize that in the sharing of those needles they were also transmitting illnesses. They didn't know that. Sometimes you just do it. Those who have unrestrained drinking, they just love to drink, don't think that one day they'll develop cirrhosis of the liver. They don't. And again, I have a friend of mine who died of that recently. Somebody wants to be the toughest guy in town and always violent and this and that. But after a life of fighting, they end up with broken bones and aches and pains, sometimes even physical handicaps. Somebody is involved in a lot of sexual activity, promiscuity. I mean, why not? Well, they end up with a lot of regret. Sometimes they have VDs. Sometimes they have a pregnancy. Many of them, it's been demonstrated, have an inability. The more they use the term body count now, the higher body count, the less likely it is for you to form a long-lasting bond with somebody else. That's what happens. And so you don't really realize when you're young what you're adding up to for your age. And so he's saying, be aware of these things. Remember now you're creator in the days of your youth before the difficult day comes. Be aware of the fact that that day will come. Now, obviously, we know that dark days and evil days will come upon us. And because we do, we prepare ourselves. And what do we do? We lay a solid spiritual foundation. So Solomon is advising us to build our lives on a solid rock, not sinking sand, because the storms will arise. And when they do, we will not be destroyed. And that solid rock is Christ. 1 Corinthians 3, 11. No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So our foundation is our relationship with him. And so we're remembering our creator in the days of our youth and the foundation is solid. So he begins to speak in this way in verse 2. He says, And so he begins here to describe old age. This is what he's describing. He's doing it in a very poetic way. But he's describing old age, the sun, the light, the moon. The stars are not darkened. This picture is the seasons of life. Seasons of life include that which is joyful, as well as seasons that can be dark and sad. And these are the difficult days he just referred to. These are pictures of infirmities that are associated with growing older. You see, old age is seen as a rainy season. It has clouds that obscures the sun and it has storms. The time of older age can have affliction. It can have sadness. It can have need. And the clouds not returning could speak of dry seasons with no times of refreshing. So be aware of these days. He continues in verse 3. In the day when the keepers of the house tremble and strong men bow down, when the grinders cease because there are few and those that look through the windows grow dim. Now just upon first reading you might not note what he is speaking about here but he's speaking of old age. He's picturing the human body as a house, a house that is deteriorating. Now when Scripture, the human body is referred to as a dwelling place. In Job 4, 18 and 19, if he puts no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust who are crushed before a moth? Or 1 Corinthians 3.16, do you not know that you are the temple of God, the spirit of God dwells in you? 2 Corinthians 5 verse 1, we know that if our earthly house, this tent is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. He's picturing the human body, our bodies as a dwelling place, as a house but this house is falling apart and this house is eventually returning to the dust and he's poetically describing our aging bodies. So verse 3, the keepers of the house tremble, strong men bow down. Now the keepers of the house would speak of servants normally who protected the home, but here it's referring to our arms and our legs. Why would that be? Because that's what you use to protect yourself. And so the keepers of the house, those things that which protects is what he's speaking of. So being able to protect yourself when you're young, well that's something you're very thankful for. Obviously it's part of being a human being. There's this confidence that you have that you can take care of yourself if necessary, that's an important thing especially for a man to know that he's able to protect the ones he loves and to defend himself when necessary and that's what he's speaking about. He's speaking about the fact that when you're able to take care of yourself it gives you a personal confidence. It's like when Psalm 144 verse 1 how the Psalmist said, blessed be the Lord my rock who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. And so he's speaking of the blessing that you have when you're capable of taking care of yourself but he's also saying this doesn't last forever. Eventually your muscles weaken. Your sense of balance diminishes. All you need to do is watch Biden go upstairs and you know what he's talking about. The funny thing is is I get it. Everybody when they get to be over 60 hears something for you to write on your calendars and look forward to but it's true when you are past the age of 60 it's statistically demonstrated. Expect to fall at least once. That's why we have carpet on our stairs. I was in Israel and I was walking with my backpack and I turned around to see where our people were because we're out of this particular area. I wanted to make sure everybody was coming in that direction. I came off of a brick into cobblestone and I didn't notice the change of and anybody you all know cobblestone and it's so different. When I stepped off of the brick into the cobblestone and I was turning around I stumbled and my backpack shifted its weight and when it shifted its weight I thought I'm a cat, I'll land on my feet. Anyway, I broke my hand and messed up my leg and I fired John. I didn't. You don't expect to fall. You don't. You just do. Now your young people look forward to it. It's a lot of fun. But that's what happens and he's just describing those kinds of things. You're not able to do the things that you at one time did. Your muscles begin to weak just since a balance does diminish. He speaks of the legs and the hands trembling. That's a picture of unsteady walking and in verse 3 he says strong men bow down because they're unable to stand up straight any longer. They're unable to do battle anymore. You develop aches in your back your muscles begin to lose flexibility. I don't want to scare you guys but I picked up my four-year-old granddaughter and when I picked her up I twisted and the muscle separated the ligament separated from this area here it still hasn't healed and it went pow! Your body makes noise! I've popped both of my hamstrings by doing hardly anything. I was baptizing one of the members of our church and she was kind of a big girl kind of she was a challenge to my weakened frame and she grabbed hold of me and fell backwards and I tried to set my feet and I heard my hammy go and yeah I'm telling you you can hear these things so you know look forward look forward to growing older notice notice he says when the grinders cease because there are few what do you think the grinders are? They're your teeth he says you begin losing your teeth you're unable to chew your food your polydent becomes your dearest friend he says those that look through windows grow dim your vision begins to deteriorate you no longer see clearly but the benefit man is your wife gets prettier anyway I'll keep going I'm sorry verse 4 when the doors are shut in the street and the sound of grinding is low when one rises up at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of music are brought low and so the sound of grinding well no I'll go first through the door the doors are shut in the street when he says doors that can be a picture of your mouth in Psalm 141 verse 3 set a guard over my mouth Lord keep watch over the doors of my lips so communication with the outside world will slow down eventually comes to an end the sound of grinding may be another picture of the loss of teeth there's no sound of chewing it can also be interpreted to mean that a person will lose their hearing and that obviously does take place you begin to lose the ability to hear like you once did there were three older men and they were suffering from hearing loss and these three guys were taking a walk and one guy said it's windy ain't it no the second man said it's Thursday and the third man said yeah I'm thirsty I'm thirsty too let's have a coke so what happens is you will lose your you can lose your you're hearing except verse 4 one rises up at the sound of a bird it's funny that you can't hear but when you're trying to sleep anything will wake you up and that's what he's saying he says you rise at the sound of a bird the lightest sound can awaken you from the deepest sleep in verse 4 the daughters of music are brought low you no longer hear the song the daughters of music brought low you don't sing you don't sing in tune my mama said you know when I was young I could sing and now I can't anymore and there's truth to it and that's the point he's making he says in verse 5 they are afraid of height and of terrors in the way when the almond tree blossoms the grasshopper is a burden desire fails for man goes to his eternal home in the streets so notice again verse 5 they're afraid of height and terrors in the way they can't walk up hills they fear that they're going to fall down or they're going to trip as they're walking terrors are in the way when the almond tree blossoms a grasshopper is a burden desire fails well the almond tree would be a picture of their hair growing white a grasshopper being a burden they become weaker desire fails their zest for life begins to be lost he says man verse 5 goes to his eternal home mourners go to the streets finally as you've aged he's saying eventually you die and as you die you're mourned as you go to the grave these are all insights and poetic ways to say be aware remember the crater in your youth because the day is going to come when this is true for you that's the point he's making so he says in verse 6 remember your creator before the silver cord is loosed the golden bowl is broken or the picture shattered at the fountain when the wheel or the wheel broken at the well then the dust will return to the earth as it was the spirit will return to God who gave it he's continuing and giving his exhortation he's saying remember your creator before the silver cord is loosed or the golden bowl is broken wealthy people had golden bowls that would hang from the ceiling with a silver chain and the picture he has is the chain breaking and the bowl being shattered and he's pointing to one thing guys both rich and poor have one thing in common death strikes them both and so a rich man and a poor man eventually both are going to find the same end so remember your creator before this happens he says in verse 6 the picture is shattered at the fountain that's another picture of death it says it's drawn up by a line attached to a wheel that would be a well with a picture that is dropped down but that picture he's saying has been broken when the machinery stops working the water of life he says stops flowing so what's that mean when the heart stops pumping the blood stops circulating death has come and that's a simple way of putting it so verse 7 and so then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God and save it that's an interesting phrase verse 7 the dust will return to the earth as it was it hearkens back to Genesis chapter 3 creation in verse 19 in the sweat of your faith you shall eat your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for dust you are and to dust you shall return please he asked he said in chapter 3 verse 20 I'll go to one place all are from the dust and I'll return to dust so I asked almighty google question about dust and I went into some sites to see what happens after death I mean I'm not really that interested in those things but I had heard something in the past and I wanted to make sure I was right and it's true they said it actually gave timelines for the breakdown I'm not going to go into that of course but the summation of death and burial is that your skeleton breaks down over time into dust and so that's a scientific truth what he's saying here it's not just a spiritual poetic way it's an actual fact we were taken from the dust and to the dust we shall return he makes that very clear so the body he's saying is planted and it deteriorates but notice what he says the spirit will return to God who gave it at that time and we've already touched on this but at that time knowing that we will stand before God be prepared every person will one day stand before God no guarantee concerning the length of life amount of life I will have I have to be aware of the fact that every day that I live is another day that is closer to seeing him face to face either as my savior or my judge right and so I have to be aware of these things why because the spirit will return to God who gave it according to Romans 14-12 each of us shall give account to God so there's going to be a time of reckoning the point he's making here don't go crazy living in a silly way ridiculous way thinking you'll get away with it because the fact is you won't I was thinking recently of how when I was young how crazy I was and how I thought that I would live forever I remember I could give you several stories I'll give you one when incident 18 a friend of mine came to pick me up and I climbed on the hood of his car and I stood on the on the edge of the hood close to the front bumper as he drove down the street and I stood on one leg and I put my hands out like I was a living hood ornament and we went driving down the street past my house my mom was home and she hit the window so hard she broke it and she screamed David I'll never forget that David you idiot you know but for me I thought come on I'm not going to I'm not going to fall that's how I thought and a lot of us in this room when you were stupid too you thought you were going to live forever you took chances doing a lot of crazy things and later on you end up paying for those things your body aches and things of that nature from the things that you once did and so he's just saying you need to take into consideration tomorrow is promised to no one one day that heart he's saying it's going to stop and you're going to stand before the Lord vanity verse 8 say it the preacher all is vanity after 12 chapters Solomon is returning to how he opened up the book so after so many years of life he has learned deep lessons after experiencing every pleasure after after possessing great wisdom and imagine remember we've gone through all these chapters I've been thinking about the things he said that he experienced he had wine he had women he had song he had wealth properties orchards great architectural splendors in a kingdom he was well known for his wisdom he had it all everything that a person would like to have he had everything but now he's summing everything up everything is coming to an end and he's letting us know his experience up to this point everything under heaven is vanity everything under the sun holds promises that are never fulfilled and so he's speaking of that and now he's coming to his conclusion in verse 9 moreover because the preacher was wise he still taught the people not only Jesse pondered and sought out and said in order of many proverbs the preacher sought to find acceptable words and what was written was up right finding the words to sum up to share with you what life really is I've pondered I've sought this out I'm thinking before I speak I've continued learning just to make sure that what I'm giving to you right now is right I want to impart to you knowledge and therefore I've remained a student and God has given me wisdom that I might instruct others God has given me the ability to notice verse 9 to set in order many proverbs well when you read first kings 432 it speaks of him in this way that he spoke 3,000 proverbs his songs numbered 1,005 so he's speaking of what he's done and he sought verse 10 he sought to find acceptable words I want to find grace filled words to communicate what is true and I want to be careful how I say this to you I want to be precise not only in what I say but I want to be a wise teacher he's precise in what I write and so this is what I want you to know verse 11 the words of the wise are like goats the words of scholars are like well driven nails given by one shepherd and further my son be admonished by these of making many books there's no end and much study is wearsome to the flesh so he's about to conclude the words of the wise are like goats the words of the wise push you forward and they're nailed they're fastened in your memory the words of the wise are intended to inspire you that you might dwell upon and act upon these things why because like nails that keep things together these words will keep your life together they're goats they're well driven nails and they're inspired he says by the shepherd and so further my son be admonished by these of making many books there's no end much study is wearsome to the flesh my son you can pursue intellectual knowledge you can pursue it and you will discover in the end that it doesn't produce wisdom there are more books than you will ever be able to read and studying them can be tiring I was in the in a library in a library the library a London library and I was overwhelmed by it I had never seen so many books in my life it was stories high on the interior and there were books guys there were books everywhere I could turn and look there were books to the ceiling and I remember walking through this and I was a new Christian at this time young Christian I knew I was a younger Christian it was in 1975 and I was walking through the London library looking at stack upon stack there were so many books and then as I walked through the library and you have to see this it was like the different aisles of the books all were kind of pointing in one direction and I walked into this direction it was like almost like a circle and in the center at that time I don't know if it's still there in the center was a glass cage and one book in a glass cage glass container I walked up to that book it was the first King James Bible yeah that was so cool I stole it no it was and it hit me the book of all books that's what that was saying the book of all books was in the center of the library you could walk through all of these and I remember thinking God knows every word in every one of these books he knows every word of every one and he knows all the errors of each book that has been presented Solomon is saying something like that he's saying to us making many books there's no end and much study is wearisome to the flesh if you take God out of education you only make smart animals that's what you end up with you only make smart animals if you don't have God in the center everything goes wrong everything goes wrong we're seeing that in our society right now our colleges are producing atheists and angry entitled young people who think everything is owed to them we're ending up with that right now the idea of education being something that I could use to be of help to somebody else it's not really there anymore so he's saying man's education can produce arrogance and it produces a dryness of spirit man's education gives information but man's education can never answer our deepest spiritual questions and at the end of achieving it results in emptiness that's one of the reasons why some people will go to school get their bachelors, get their masters get their doctorate and they're addicted to education they just continue learning learning always learning and understanding that happens today and so after all of this let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter what is it? fear God keep his commands for this is man's all for God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil Solomon you took that long to tell me that 12 chapters to the conclusion he said this is what we have been created to do fear God because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and a true fear of God will always be revealed by obedience so fear God keep his commandments because that is man's all that is man's total duty God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil Psalm 4421 would not God search this out he knows the secrets of the heart Romans 2.16 God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel the things that are hidden from man are opened to God's eyes the appearance that I could have he loves the Lord I could be a charlatan I could be putting that on but God knows my heart man can be full by the exterior but God sees the interior and that's the point he's making it's very clear God brings every work into judgment including every secret thing he knows the thoughts and intents of the heart he knows the motives he knows those things that are hidden from other people things that they don't know he sees and he knows and he says because he knows that the best thing you could do is fear God and keep his commandments why? because that's your whole duty that's your total duty in life and remember this you may think you got away with something now but one day he's saying you will stand before the Lord who will judge righteously and because you're going to stand before God Solomon is saying be prepared for that day I said earlier, Hebrews 9 27 it is appointed and demanded I once and after this judgment and there we stand before him completely totally open and he sees us for what we are so isn't it a blessing to know that we're clothed in the grace of God and in Jesus Christ so that when he sees us as believers he sees what Christ has done for us we've been washed by his blood and we stand before him completely cleansed because we have sought him and asked God for forgiveness of our sins and he has cleansed us from all unrighteousness and he's given to us he's imputed to us his own righteousness he made him to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him so when he looks at us he sees Christ all right now I'm just so blessed to know that because one day I will stand before him and one day I'll be clothed in his righteousness and one day he's going to welcome me in to his kingdom and he's going to welcome everyone in this room who has been clothed in Christ and so what is the summation of all of these why didn't you just begin by saying this fear God keep his commandments God is going to bring every work into judgment even the secret things it's all going to be laid bare before his eyes so fear him obey him serve him and love him and see what God will do in the future one of these days we'll see him face to face and we'll be able to see him as he is and that is going to be a beautiful day