we are winding down in our study of Ecclesiastes and this morning I read to you Ecclesiastes chapter 11 beginning with verse 7 this is the word of God the light is pleasant and it is good for the eyes to see the sun indeed if a man should live many days let him rejoice in them all and let him remember the days of darkness for they will be many everything that is to come will be futility. Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart to the desires of your eyes. Yet, Know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. So remove grief and anger from your heart, and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeing. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, I have no delight in them. Amen. So ends the reading of God's Word, and you may be seated. It was George Bernard Shaw, who's been credited for having said, ah, it's a pity that youth is wasted on the young. Now, when I was a younger man, I used to wonder, what in the world is he talking about there? But the older I get, I do see there's a lot of truth in that statement. And I don't want to admit my age, but I am getting older, as we all are. Young people seem to have a super abundance of zeal and energy, coupled very much with enthusiasm and strength. The strength of youth is a marvelous thing. Youth have time to do things without the heavy commitments that older age brings on. They enjoy a comparative freedom from care oftentimes. But alas! Youth often lacks vision. Very little foresight sometimes. Many times, young are devoid of wisdom on how to use their time and their energy and their zeal and their enthusiasm. And so they wander around squandering all that precious energy on useless things, on vain and trivial pursuits. This is such a prevalent condition among the young that the Apostle Paul felt it necessary and was even compelled to write to Timothy, now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness. And so, in the session that is before us this morning, the preacher also felt that same compelling urge to instruct the youth on how to make the most of their fleeting days. Now, of course, this advice that the preacher gives is especially appropriate, I think, given what he said in the previous session. Remember, we looked at this last week a little bit, how he contrasted wisdom and folly as it relates to the living of life. And he showed that in the face of unpredictability of life, where there are certain apparent dangers, the fool would be shaken into a state of timidity, and would retreat into a safety of inactivity, or that he would give himself to youthful lust, partying all day and such. And yet the wise man has an abiding confidence in the almighty and sovereign hand of God. And so he doesn't fear the unpredictability of life, the randomness of life. In fact, he even exercises a measure of holy boldness and industry in the face of uncertainty. Having said that though, as the young person has this boldness, this zeal, and needs to be reined in a little bit. And so the preacher gives further instruction on how to bring balance into one's life. Again, he is not calling for reckless abandon here. Young people may be particularly prone to that. But he draws them back in with these three R's. Now, when I was a young man, we'd go to school as a little boy, and we would be told that we're there to learn the three R's. Perhaps some of you have been told the same thing. Three R's. Reading, writing, arithmetic. Well, the preacher here gives the young people in his school three R's. Not reading, writing, and arithmetic, but rejoice, reflect, and remember. Rejoice, reflect, and remember. And these three things, if they are done, would serve as an antidote to various problems that are often associated with youthfulness. So let's look at them today. And we're going to look at first, we are to rejoice. We are to rejoice. Now, this is an important command, you are to rejoice, because sometimes we think that we're not being spiritual if we really enjoy life. In fact, some people seem to be so afraid of enjoying life that they make up all kinds of rules and regulations to ensure that you don't enjoy life. Now, I'm not advocating any kind of anarchy here, believe me. There needs to be some kind of order. There is a necessity for laws, aren't there? But I'm talking about spiritual legalism. And Paul argued against this kind of legalism that seems to rip the enjoyment out of life. He wrote in Colossians chapter 2, verse 21 for instance, against certain false teachers who said that if you want to live a godly life, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. Don't enjoy yourself. Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch. And they thought that this kind of abstinence from enjoyment, this kind of asceticism, if you will, will remove the temptation that leads to worldly living. But in that section of Colossians, Paul mentioned that that doesn't really help against the indulgence of the flesh. No, in fact, we can go back to Colossians, we just finished it last Sunday night, but if we were to go back in that section from the end of chapter 2 all the way through chapter 3, we can summarize that section of the letter, really, with the three R's. Paul says that we are to rejoice in Christ, and that we are to reflect in our position in Him. Consider that you have been dead to sin already, that you have been raised with Him. And then He says that we are to remember that we are to live our daily life in the power of Christ that dwells in us by the Holy Spirit. So there again we see the three R's coming out. If you want to have power over sin, you want to have victory over sin, the thing is not to stop enjoying life, it's not to stop handling things, or tasting things, or touching things. No, it's to rejoice in Christ, reflect on Him, and to remember that you have Him blood on. Well, anyway, we come back to Ecclesiastes. The preacher wants you to know that God desires you to enjoy life. Now, we've already seen that several times in this book. But this time he adds that we should enjoy the good of life while we still can. He says, for all the limitations that we have in life, life still has opportunities for joy, and so that we are to take it while we can. And he impresses upon us the importance of enjoying life by contrasting here the good of life with the evil that is yet to come. Look at verses 7 and 8 in chapter 11 again with me. He says, The light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun. Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Now, light and sun in the ancient Near East were metaphors for life. And so the opposite of light, of course, is darkness, and darkness is the darkness of death. Now, you might remember earlier on in chapter 9, verses 4 and 6, the preacher there says that there is hope for the living. And so a living dog is better than a dead lion. Remember that? And even though things may be hard and painful, he's saying, at least when you're alive, there's always hope. Tomorrow will be different. That's your bottom daughter. You know that song, Tomorrow, Tomorrow. But tomorrow can be different. The dead don't have that kind of hope. What the dead have now, they will have forever. And darkness is a metaphor for death. But darkness is also a metaphor for misery and gloom. That's what we do experience in the present life under the sun. And according to what he says there in chapter 12 verse 1, we might have many days of darkness before we die. but especially we have our times in days of darkness, days of misery and old age. And so the preacher here is imploring us, encouraging us to enjoy our youth and to live life to the brim while you have the opportunity in you. In this section, again, the preacher is contrasting the sunshine of youth with the darkness of old age. But he does this in order to get us to a place of appreciating the good, the joyful, the pleasant days when we have them. I remember when I moved to Wisha, Scotland, back in July of 1989. We had about five days, at that time when I moved there, we had about five days of blue sky and sunshine. And then the clouds moved in. And the clouds came, and virtually they didn't leave for ten months. In fact, I remember very vividly, it was the first week of May in 1990 when the clouds finally broke. And sunshine got to Scotland. As a matter of fact, the temperatures rose to about the 80s, the low 80s. And people stayed home from work in order to bask in the sunshine. It's a true thing. It really did happen. It was so vivid, it's burned into my memory. The first week in May. The second week, it went back to clouds. But my point to bring that story is that we don't appreciate light on bright and sunny days. It's when you don't have it that light becomes extremely, and may I say even profoundly, valued. And that's what the preacher is saying here. He's saying we need to learn to appreciate the pleasant days now because we always won't have them. In fact, remembering that we will have days of darkness. may actually help us to enjoy the good that we do have today. And so he says again in verses 9 and 10, Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of your young manhood. Now, in the midst of this very depressing book, and some people have mentioned how depressing this book to be, and it is, Nonetheless, I hope that you are seeing that the creature still wants you to know that God wants you to enjoy life. He wants you, my friends, to rejoice. But I'm going to say something. That this ability to rejoice really is a sign of a regenerate heart. Do you remember what Jesus said? He said in John chapter 15, These things I have spoken unto you, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. Jesus said, I have come into this world to give you joy, and that your joy may be full. In fact, may be my joy that's in you that makes your joy full of rejoicing. Peter, reflecting on that, says, though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice. with a joy inexpressible and full of glory. Here, he says, is a joy that has no bounds. Here is a joy that cannot even be fully expressed by words. A joy inexpressible, full of glory, because of Christ. You don't see him. But you know Him, and you believe in Him. And so that's joyous dare. Paul wrote to the Philippians in a very famous verse, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say to you, rejoice. See, this is characteristics of having faith in the Lord. If you have faith in the Lord, rejoicing should be the fruit of your life. And so, The Westminster Divines, being filled with the Holy Spirit and a good knowledge of the Scriptures, began both the catechisms with the question, what is the chief end of man? In other words, they're asking, why were you made? What's your purpose in life? You know the answer. Let me read to you the larger catechism, because we know the shorter catechism, but we don't really hear the larger catechism's answer so often. But this is it. Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God and to fully enjoy Him forever. That's what you were created for. To glorify God and to enjoy Him. Glorifying God includes the aspect of enjoying Him. Now my friends, if you don't enjoy God, Perhaps it's a very sad indication that you really don't know Him. But knowing God who is full of glory, knowing this God who is full of beauty should bring a great joy into your life. Because you were created to enjoy Him. And let me just say that having this joy that's inexpressible, this joy that's full of glory, really is one of the great testimonies that we have that Christ has risen from the dead. You think about this, if you walk around with a gloomy expression on your face, a dark cloud hanging over your head, a gloomy or morose disposition, how does that show the world that you truly believe that Christ has been raised from the dead and that He has defeated all your foes? How does that show the world that you believe that God is sovereign and in control of all things, that everything is working together for your good? I like the stories of A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh. One of my favorite characters just happens to be Eeyore. Not necessarily because I understand him so much, but because he's funny to me. On a sunny day, oh the sky is dark. You know, that's a very gloomy disposition. I've known some people, perhaps you have known people. Good things happen in their life. And they look at the dark cloud. They can't see the silver lining. All they see is the dark cloud. Well, that's not Christianity, my friend. We're to see the silver lining in everything. Why? Because Christ is raised from the dead. He lives. He reigns. and he's defeated all his foes, all your foes. Grave, sin, Satan, all that's been defeated. It's when we take our eyes off of him that things become unbearable and we get depressed. And so the preacher says here again, remember your creator. Now we'll come back to that Steve in just a few moments or so. But for now, He's saying, keep your eyes on Him. And in the midst of great hardships, in the midst of sorrows, where your heart is nigh unto breaking, you can still rejoice, my friends. Because you know Him. You know that He has your times, He has these circumstances in His own hands. And if you know Him, how can you not help but rejoice? Well, now we go on to verse 10. which continues the thought of the preacher and he says, follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Now I don't know about you, but when I first read that verse, it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Follow the impulses of your heart, the desires of your eyes. Wasn't that what Israel was condemned for? Following their own heart instead of following God's law? And yet the preacher here says that we are to follow your heart, we're to follow the desires of your eyes. Well yes, he is saying that we should live and have an unbounded enjoyment in life. Especially in the face of trials that we face. The preacher here is not encouraging anyone to a life of debauchery. No, he's not advocating hedonism. He is not saying that we should live a perverse lifestyle. In fact, remember, in chapter 10, verse 16, he said that it was the fool who seeks to party all day long. No, we're to enjoy our lives, but this enjoyment is also to be balanced. And the balance comes, my friends, when we reflect upon the fact that God watches all that we do, and that one day He will bring you and I and our sins into account. So here he's saying, enjoy life, but not to the point of sinning. Then we come to our second R, reflect. Notice the counsel he gives the young in verse 1 of chapter 12 again. Remember also the Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near when you say, I have no delight in them. Here he is saying that we should reflect upon the fact that God is our sovereign Creator and that we are his creatures. There is going to be a day coming when you will just get tired of life. I've been to many retirement homes, I've been to many nursing homes, and there comes a time when I've lived long enough. That's what he's talking about here. You should enjoy your days now before those days when you say, I have no delight in them. Remember your Creator. Reflect upon your Creator here. Now the word reflect here is What I mean by it is that we should seriously think and consider. What is the purpose of our life? Again, one of the problems of youth is that there is very little Serious reflection on what life is really all about We make our plans, but think little of eternity Now, when you're older and you have fewer days in front of you as you have behind you, then you begin to think a little bit more about eternity. But when you're young, you have your whole life ahead of you. And you don't tend to give it much thought. It's a sad thing. No one ever thinks of growing older. I can't imagine myself being old. No one does, but it happens, doesn't it? And so the preacher is saying, if you really want to enjoy life, you ought to know what life is about. Why are you here in the first place? And that's when he says, reflect on this truth. Reflect on why are you here? And having reflected on why we are here, why we are in this world, why I was given birth, why do I have the things that I have? Having reflected upon all this, reflected upon God, we can live according to now how He has created us. Again, we've already heard that He created us to glorify Him, and to enjoy Him, and to enjoy the good things that He has given to us, and to enjoy the times that He has given us. But listen, young people, if you want to live a true life of joy in this life, you must know where to find that joy. And the preacher is telling you that this joy is not found in the things of this world. You might think that it might be. But it's not. And it cannot be found in the things of this world. Because the things of this world will not last. I think the present economy is showing us that. People who were secure in their jobs suddenly now find themselves unemployed. Things are becoming more expensive. And I just read from Hebrews chapter 12, it goes on to say there that we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, but the earth is being shaken. The earth is being shaken. It doesn't last forever. And the whole book of Ecclesiastes really has been warning us of that particular thing. This is the final remark that he has to say on all this teaching. It's vanity. This world is vanity, you see. I hope that your ears are being opened to hear that the world was not meant to be the total source of all your happiness. Because you were made for God. Therefore, we must balance the instruction that he says to follow the impulses of your heart, the desires of your eyes, with the reflection that follows after it. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. These words of judgment are not meant to take away the joy that was spoken, but it's meant to purify the joy. When life is pleasant, Are we not distracted from the thought that we will die? When you're feeling good and strong, are you not distracted from the fact that one day your life will come to an end? Thinking that we're strong, thinking that we're healthy, thinking that we have a bright day, there's no darkness around us, are we not oftentimes then tempted to sin? I've often heard people say that they're glad for their trials because the trials at least bring them to their knees. But when their things are going well, they forget about God. They forget to pray. They forget to think. I hope that's not true of you, but it's common. The preacher says that we must not allow ourselves to be so completely distracted. Rather, we must reflect upon the weightier matters of life and remember why you were created. Again, you were created to glorify God and to fully enjoy Him. and to enjoy Him forever. Don't let life, my friends, become so busy that you forget all of His benefits. Now, I know I may be speaking with my gray hair as an old geezer to some of you younger folks. But you better come to know that life won't always be sweetness and life. Hard days will come. And the question is, how will you come through them? Hard times are far more easier to go through when you know God, because when you face those hard times again, you know that you're not going to be alone. And you will know that He has a good purpose for them in your life. And you can know that as your Good Shepherd, He will lead you through them in order that you might glorify God for heaven. Now, back in chapter 11, verse 8, He says, let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Let me read that again, and I want you to hopefully catch something here. He says, let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Isn't that a very interesting statement? He's calling us to remember something that is yet future. We can remember things that have happened in the past, but to remember something that is yet future? That's a odd thing, isn't it? But the meaning here, again, is that right now, while you have pleasure, while you have life, while things are going well, it's easy to forget the day of your death. He says, but still, don't forget that you will have to give an account of your life before God. And so how you spend your health, how you spend your wealth, how you spend your time and your strength and your energy, will all be scrutinized by God. And unfortunately some will suffer great loss because of it. Some will say, I'm too busy for God. There are too many things that occupy my time and my interest now. But one day, oh one day, when all these things are done, when I'm a little bit older, and now I don't have these worries, I'll give myself to God. But this text calls us to reflect on the fact that in the midst of joy in this life, it will all end. One day we will stand in judgment. And so he continues to say in verse 7 of chapter 12, the dust will return to the earth as it was. and the spirit will return to God who gave it. That is a principle of scriptures which says from Galatians chapter 6, the one who sows to his own flesh will from his flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the spirit will from his spirit reap eternal life. And that's what the preacher is talking about here, this principle. All your life is but seed time and harvest time. You know the seeds of today has been reaped from an earlier sowing. You know what I mean by that? What you do today and what you are today is a consequence of what you have done in the past and what has been done to you in the past. And what you are doing today will have bearing upon tomorrow. The seeds that you are planting today will one day ripen, and they will be harvested. And what will be harvested? That's the question. The preacher says, remember your Creator in the days of your youth. But if you will not do that, if you will not reflect upon spiritual matters now, because you're too busy, and you're waiting for some future time, you're only fooling yourself, my friend. The day will never come. This thing will be taken out of the way, it will be taken care of, but something else will creep in its place. That's the way life is. You have to have your priorities. He says, remember your Creator. Unless you're preparing for the day of darkness and judgment now, by remembering God now, those plans of eventually following Christ will never come to be. What you are doing now, what you're building up now, will be what you are tomorrow. So he says, remove grief and anger from your heart, put away pain from your body. Childhood and the primal life are fleeting. I'm speaking to you, dear young people. If you stain your souls by the outward core sin in your youth, you'll always be tainted. Paul says, flee youthful lust. Judgment is coming. And the preacher says you need to reflect on that in order to purify your present pleasures. The more we seek to glorify God and to enjoy Him, the more productive we will be in life. That's a true thing of scripture. And as the preacher says we should remember our Creator, we can turn to the New Testament. And we can see who this Creator is, John chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was God. The Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, apart from Him. Nothing came into being that has come into being. John identifies Jesus as the Great Creator. Paul does the same thing in Colossians. He is the image of the Invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, thrones and dominions, rulers and authorities. All have come into existence through Him and are for Him. In the light of the full revelation of the New Testament, the preacher is telling us then to remember Christ from the days of our youth. But remembering Christ is not simply to think about Him every once in a while. It means that you are to truly believe in Him. It means that you are to continually rest in His life of perfect obedience, which He lived in your place. You are to trust Him in His perfect sacrifice that He suffered on our behalf because we have broken the law. And we're to rejoice in His resurrection because it is the conquest of sin and death. Keeping our eyes fixed on where He now lives, at God's right hand, to rule over all things. My friends, if we do this, the liability of judgment for our sin will be taken care of. and we are given hope even in faith and death but the young person who fails to remember Christ and who goes about as if Jesus doesn't exist, he doesn't matter not only will they waste their life in the foolish pursuit of contentment which you'll never find in this world he'll bring himself to the very judgment seat of Christ the preacher is warning that none of us should think that we're invincible or that we have all the time in the world. Friends, it's the devil's most useful weapon to make us believe we have time. You know that? That is the devil's greatest weapon against us. You have time. Don't think you'll ever find satisfaction apart from Christ. Remember Him. So, let me disclose. If I said, maybe for some, this admonition to let your heart cheer you, to remove sorrow from your heart is but a cruel taunt. How can I do that? I've sinned. My foolishness has been done in my youth. That all plagues me. Again, the answer, of course, is found in the Gospels. Your heart may cheer you and you may remove sorrow from your heart by turning to Christ. Again, He is the answer to all joy. Jesus again said, Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and you will lament, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will be turned to joy. There He is talking about repentance. If you grieve in repentance when the world is laughing its way, you will have joy nevertheless in the judgment. While the world has its grief, the Christian can really rejoice in life. He can enjoy life because the judgment of sin has already happened. Death is defeated for him, you see. We who have been forgiven of all our sins, who have been adopted into God's family, who have the bright hope of heaven, we, of all people on earth, should be the happiest. It may be true that you are suffering. In fact, it may be true that you are suffering because of some consequence of a pastful action. I want you to know something. In Christ, the old has passed away. Behold, all things are new. There's hope. Our present sorrow has a golden purpose in it, beloved. And He is able to take even those things that have marred your life and stained your soul, and He can make good out of them. Paul, the apostle, marveled at how the Lord could take this miserable, murderous blasphemer, this persecutor of the church, and make an apostle out of him. My friends, listen. If the Lord can do that for him, the Lord can do whatever He will of you. Isn't that glorious? Let your heart cheer you. One more thing. Some here may be thinking, this sermon is not for me. It's addressed to the youth. And I'm no longer young. In fact, I feel the gravity of age pulling me down somewhat. The preacher has something here for you too. Though you may not be young, you're still to rejoice, you're still to reflect, and you're still to remember God, because you're not dead yet. You're not dead. Whatever age you're in, whatever stage of life you find yourself, the admonition of the text bears upon it. Because you and I, all of us, were created by God and for God, and you can't escape. And so there you have it, the three R's of the Christian walk. Rejoice, reflect on the knowledge of God, and remember your Creator. That you were made for His glory. So live for Him. My friends, the moments are flying. and you may never have him offered to you anymore after this you don't know what's going to happen this afternoon so the scripture says this if today you hear his voice do not harden your heart for now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation and those of us who have this salvation let us then rejoice with a joy inexpressible and full of glory. Amen.