Good morning. So those are Angel Tree sponsorships. If you have a chance to check one of those out, it's a short window. But it's a great, great opportunity. And again, Noel and Reyna, it's so good to have you here. And Harvest does, as Amy mentioned, send 20% to missions, and we have many, many missionary families. Several of them are North American, but many of them are native to their country, like Noel and Reyna, and Brian and Evelyn, who are in Peru. Andrei and Luba Bulyan, who are Ukrainian in Ukraine, and Sasha Sutsurov, who is in Russia. So it is really, and in Serbia, Andrei Franka. So God has given us the opportunity to partner with people serving their own people, and that is a wonderful, wonderful thing. So let me ask you a question. As we start out here today, How old is old? And how young is young? So I'm gonna put a number up, and you just think, is this old or young, okay? All right, here's the number. Yeah, most people will think that that's young. Let's just change one digit, okay? I think whether you think 50 is old or young might depend on what your age is, right? If you're 15 or 20 or 25, that may sound ancient. If you're 70 or 75 or 80, that may sound young, right? The sermon today is titled, Only for the Young. Only for the Young. And we're going to look at Ecclesiastes chapter 11, verse 7, through chapter 12 verse 8. And let me set the context for that before I read it. The teacher in Ecclesiastes, for all of the book mostly, since early in chapter 1, has been giving his observations on what life looks like under the sun. This is for 11 chapters. And now This section, now we're wrapping it up. He's wrapping his thoughts up, and we're wrapping this series up. Today is the 15th sermon, and there's only one more. That will happen, Lord willing, two weeks from today. Next week, the Thanksgiving service, two weeks from today, we'll finish Ecclesiastes. He's wrapping it up by giving good advice for anyone who is, notice, quote, young. Now, I mentioned last Sunday in the sermon some people who had great accomplishments at very advanced ages, like William Gladstone becoming the Prime Minister of Great Britain at age 83 for the fourth time, or John Wesley preaching daily at age 88. or Benjamin Ryrie learning Greek at age 80. Praise God that God can use anybody at any age. But this passage focuses on the young. That's the stage here. Will you stand with me as we're going to read Ecclesiastes 11, starting in verse 7. Light is sweet, and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun. Indeed, if someone lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many. All that comes is futile. Rejoice young person 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 desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment. Remove sorrow from your heart and put away pain from your flesh because youth and the prime of life are fleeting. 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. Before the sun and the light are darkened and the moon and the stars and the clouds return after the rain, on the day when the guardians of the house tremble And the strong men stoop, the women who grind grain cease because they are few, and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly. The doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades. When one rises at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of song grow faint. Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road. The almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caperberry has no effect, for the mere mortal is headed to his eternal home, earth as it once was. And the spirit returns to God who gave it. Absolute futility, says the teacher. Everything is futile. This is the word of God. You may be seated. Now it's interesting that the teacher here does not define what he thinks young is. And I'm certainly not gonna do that today. I'll let you do that. It is reasonable to think that anyone who has not experienced the things he's going to talk about in chapter 12 might be considered as young. And again, I put it in quotes, young. Because he's going to talk about what aging looks like. He is gonna encourage all of us to remember our God, our creator, while we're young. And he's gonna be, he's gonna get real about what it looks like and why you have an incredible opportunity right now. So he gives advice to the young and it's really, it's summed up in two things. There's just two words that sum it up and we're gonna look at them. The first word is rejoice. Rejoice while you're young. That's the first thing. There are not many commands in Ecclesiastes because it's wisdom literature. It's just a lot of observations about life. There are very, very few commands. Here is one, there are two. Here is one of them, not two in Ecclesiastes, two in this passage. And the first one is rejoice. Rejoice while you are young. Look again at verse seven. Light is sweet and it's pleasing for the eyes to see the sun. So verse seven is affirming life. And even though, as I mentioned, commands are not very prevalent, here's one of them. Rejoice in it. Enjoy it. because it's pleasing to the eyes to see. If you can see the sun, if you're alive, if you're young, rejoice in it. Look at verse eight. Indeed, if someone lives many years, let him rejoice in them all and let him remember the days of darkness since they will be many. All that comes is futile. There are going to be bad days coming. So rejoice right now. Verse nine, rejoice, young person, while you're young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. So if you are young, live and rejoice. And thank God for it. Thank God that you are alive and that he has given you the opportunity to experience life and to know him. and walk in the ways of your heart and in the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things, God will bring you to judgment. Does it surprise you to hear the Bible encourage you to follow your heart? It does. Walk in the ways of your heart and the desire of your eyes. Now, I've always been cautious about that because our society has a philosophy like follow your heart. Follow your heart. You do you. And by that, they mean you do whatever you wanna do without any thought to how it affects God or other people essentially. That's not the advice that's being given here. But the bald statement, follow your heart, is not as bad as I thought it was. It's not 100% wrong because we are being encouraged to do that here and yet it just doesn't mean what our society makes it means. I think it means recognizing that God has made every one of us unique and he has given us gifts and passions and our personality and abilities and there are certain things that drive some people that don't drive others. Follow your heart, follow your ways. But the words that follow really give us the context, and they really shape it to make sure we're not going to go off the deep end and be unbiblical. But know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment. that changes how you follow your heart, right? In other words, follow your heart. If God's put something in you, go for it, live, enjoy Him, rejoice. But be aware that God is real, that God is present, that God sees, that God is here, and that there is going to be judgment afterwards, and we are going to give an account to God. Most of us think, oh, that's negative, that's bad, right? But biblical judgment is a combination of good and bad. Bema seat in the New Testament, the judgment seat of Christ, is a place to be rewarded. So 1 Corinthians, for instance, 1 Corinthians 3, I don't think I have that. I thought I have it in my notes. 1 Corinthians 3, if anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss, but yet will be saved, even though only as one escaping through the flames. That's first Corinthians. Or fleeting. Now that word fleeting, that's translated fleeting there is, as we have said through this series, one of the key words in Ecclesiastes It appears 33, 34 times. It's the word often translated futile or vanity or vain or meaningless. But there's this element that this life where we exist now under the sun, what we have right here in front of us, it's quick. It's fleeting. It comes, it goes. That's part of what the teacher means and feels when he says it's futile. This vanity, it's like you can't hold on to it. It just comes and goes so quickly. It's fleeting. Do you realize how fleeting time is? So, mostly it's teenagers and up because most kids have gone out. There are some children who do stay and are currently welcome. But do you remember like when you were a child, six, seven, whatever, eight, you remember how long it took for Christmas to get here? It's like, oh man, is it, it's, Christmas is just gonna be forever. Or then, after Christmas then, how long it took for summer vacation, for school to get out, for summer vacation. Does anybody have that feeling of, oh, how long it, and does anybody still feel that now? Like today is November 20, what's today, the 24th? I mean, just a minute ago, we were in the 40 days of prayer. And it was Easter and then summer and now it's almost Christmas. Life is fleeting. And youth and the prime of life are fleeting. So what do you do? You rejoice. You're alive today. If you are young today, rejoice. The second thing is to remember God. So there's the two words, rejoice and remember. Remember God while you can. Remember God while you can. Verse one, 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 him, or no delight in them. Now, what does it mean to remember God? I'm gonna jump out of Ecclesiastes for a second and go back to Deuteronomy chapter eight because remembering is not just an intellectual thing like, oh, did I remember to do this? Did I remember to get my keys? Did I remember? No, remembering God is a moral action. It involves knowing who God is and knowing who you are in relationship to God and living a life of obedience to him. Deuteronomy chapter eight, remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. Observe the commands. of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. So he said, remember and observe. And now in the next couple of verses, these concepts are tied together. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God failing to observe his commands. His laws and His decrees that I, Moses, am giving you this day. So back in Ecclesiastes, it says, remember your creator in the days of your youth. Now, this does not mean that If you're not young, you're exempt from this command to remember God, okay? But it's urging, it's urging particularly those who are young to know that you've got a chance right now. And you have the opportunity to remember God right now and shape your whole life that older people don't have, you know? We want everybody to remember God at every age, but man, when they start remembering God at a young age, it can shape an entire life. Noel and Raina, we are so glad that you are feeding children food and the gospel to shape their whole lives. Remember God how you can. Remember why you can. And there's some reasons. One is because you can now. Because you can now remember your Creator before the days of adversity come and the years approach. when you will say, I have no delight of them. Three times in six verses, we're encouraged to do this before something happens. So here in verse one, it's before the days of adversity come. In verse two, before the sun and light are darkened. In verse six, before the silver cord is snapped. So remember God, because you can now, secondly, because aging happens. Anybody wanna say amen? Aging happens. Ian Proven says these verses describe what he calls, quote, the slow and steady intrusion of death into life as people age. They're poignant. This is a poignant description of, but look at these pictures. Verse 2, before the sun and the light are darkened and the moon and the stars and the clouds return after the rain. So a storm comes, it gets dark, aging and death are coming. Older people tend not to see as well or remember as well. Now, don't look at me and think I'm old because I'm wearing glasses. I've been wearing these since I was 17. Well, you can look at me and think I'm old if you want to. Now, verse three and four describe some images that describe a house breaking down. kind of as a symbol of old age. And perhaps the helpers are anticipating the death of their master. On the day when the guardians of the house tremble and the strong men stoop, the women who grind grain cease because they are few, and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly. Now that day in the ancient Near East, women were not allowed to mingle with men in the operations of the household, so they peered through the lattices. to see what was happening. And it kind of gives that image. This house is breaking down. Maybe the person is passing away. Or maybe it's, again, this is figurative language, so it's hard to nail it exactly. The guardians could be the hands or the arms that tremble. The strong men stooping could be the legs or the knees or the back muscles. The few grinders might be a figurative way of saying few teeth and sing dimly through the windows might be failing eyesight. Verse four, the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades when one rises at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of song grow faint. So in that day, in a small village, when an important citizen would pass away, the normal commercial activities would slow down. And this is describing that. But personally, if it refers to personal aging, sleep changes as people get older. No need for an alarm clock anymore. waking up at the sound of the bird, the slightest sound, right? Verse 5, also they're afraid of heights and dangers on the road. Older people tend to be afraid of heights more than younger people. More concerned about what problems might happen when they get out and commute and get on the road. The almond tree blossoms. So the almond tree changes its dark color of winter and blooms in a really light color. I think that's hair that lightens up or disappears over time. The grasshopper loses its spring. Maybe a loss of strength. You don't see 95-year-olds doing a lot of jumping jacks typically, right? People start walking more slowly with a cautious gait. The caperberry has no effect. In that time, they use the caperberry to stimulate appetite or sexual desire. And it has, in advanced years, no effect. Why? The mere mortal is headed to His eternal home. Now, Old Testament believers didn't fully understand that heaven would be our eternal home, not in the fullness and richness that we understand in the New Testament. Paul will talk about in Corinthians, if this tent, this earthly tent is destroyed, we have a home in heaven. But there's some understanding here of when a person leaves this life, they're going somewhere to live. Now, our society, in which we all live, I think in general ignores or denies aging. and it doesn't focus on preparing people for aging, but for covering it up. You look at all the marketing ads, you look at beauty products, you look at how youth is exalted and fitness, which is a good thing in itself, but how it's exalted as if this is going to save you from these things happening. There was an article in MIT Technology a couple years ago titled, How Beauty Filters Took Over. It talked about over the last several years how Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram are using augmented reality so you can change. Well, we know about people using fillers and stuff, all kind of cosmetic things on themselves, but this is on the pictures. This is on the images so that your social media presence can look better. As of 2021, over 600 million people had used the beautifiers. And Facebook at one time had over 10,000 employees working on AR and virtual reality products. I read this week that as of January 2025, they're doing away with those things because of the mental health implications. Right? That's our society. But God is, his word is real. And rather than denying aging, he wants us to prepare for it. He wants us to take the opportunity that we have right now and serve God. To remember our creator in the days of our youth, So look at this progression. This picture may have been generated by AI, but the picture does happen to all of us. From a baby to a young child to teenager to young adult to middle-aged adult to senior adult. And I plead with you, wherever you are in the picture, serve God now. Serve God now. Only one life and will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Now intricately related to this is the third reason to remember God now. And that's because death is certain and final. We get these images in verses six and seven. Before the silver cord is snapped, And the gold bowl is broken, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the wheel is broken into the well. And the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Now, the golden bowl seemingly refers to a lamp, maybe like Zechariah 4, verse two and three, and the silver cord is how it is hung, and the fact that it's gold and silver, I think, speaks to us about how precious life is. But it's not permanent, because that cord holding it is gonna be snapped. And when it breaks, the oil lamp is gonna crash on the floor and be shattered. And once it happens, it happens. And then what happens afterwards? The spirit returns to God who gave it. We don't have complete control over our lives. God's given us this life, but it's only a certain amount of time and then it's done. Now, we should, We should love and honor our elders. In fact, America is not very good at that compared to other countries, maybe in the East. And we thank God for everybody of every age in this church. This is not to make fun of old age. But this is just real talk, right? And I think anybody who has experienced any of these would probably say, Jerry, tell them, right? Don't hold back. Don't hold back. Live for God now. Here's God's word for us. And again, I'm not defining what young is, but if you are young enough to follow God's ways, do it now. If you are young enough to follow God's ways, do it now. Don't wait. You know, sometimes people say things like, well, I got a lot of sow my wild oats. I'm gonna go live life and go be sinful or whatever. I wanna have fun. I don't wanna do that now. Maybe I'll serve God later. I'll follow God later. Well, there's a couple problems with that. Number one, it's deceptive. Because real true life is knowing God and loving Him and serving Him. It's so much better. And the other reason why that's unwise is because are you really gonna do it later? Are you gonna really have the chance? Will you die? Will you get some illness you don't expect? Or will you just not be interested anymore and miss out on the opportunities? Do it now. Do it now and then Verse eight, the last verse here, we get this familiar refrain again. Absolute futility, says the teacher, everything is futile. The point is to remember God, remember and obey God, even though a lot of life is confusing. Even though there's a lot of futility in life. And the world in which we live under the sun. You know, these are the same exact words that opened up the teacher's thoughts way back in chapter one, verse two, absolute futility. And there we saw the cyclical nature of everything at the beginning of the world, like the sun rises and the sun sets, it hurries back to the place where it rises, gusting to the south, turning to the north, turning, turning goes the wind and the wind multiple times and we're gonna see it in two weeks when we get the summary of everything. Jesus said it's seeking God's kingdom. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Today, now, is through Christ. It's through Christ. So I would picture it also this way. God God's kingdom and Christ because we're not talking about different things but progressions in God's revelation. Paul the Apostle certainly understood this. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or by death or to me to live as Christ. and to die is gain." If you are young enough to follow God's ways, do it now. This passage is very, very personal to me. I think the first time I heard it preached, I was at a Christian college. So somewhere in my, I don't know, sophomore, junior year, I heard a sermon on this on the end of Ecclesiastes and about all these, you know, this old age and these pictures of old age. And I would say it made a little bit of an impression on me. I was like, wow. but like I'm 19 or 20 or something and now I'm 65. And now when I read this, I look at it at a little different perspective. I mean, I'm thankful, I feel good. I mean, I don't know if tomorrow's my last day or 30 years from now is my last day. I feel good, I'm thankful, I'm healthy, I'm passionate for God, but I can't dunk a basketball anymore. I know what some of you think and you never were able to dunk a basketball. That is not true. That is not true because in college we used to go out after classes in the afternoon. There was a church there in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We'd go down Brainerd Road. This church had a whole bunch of basketball goals out there in their parking lot. Some of them were 10 feet high. And some of them were nine feet high. And I'm not gonna tell you which one I dunked on. I could touch the rim of 10 feet. But I'm not perfect. I've had mistakes and sins. But when I was 17 years old, I remember it as clear as I'm standing here today. That's when I surrendered to God and said, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. Wherever you want me to go, whatever you want me to be, I am yours. and I would not trade it for $50 million. If you could say, could you go back? What if you could go do this? Would you go live a really sinful lifestyle and live it up in this and miss out on serving God at every one of those stages? Absolutely not. It's not me, but it's by God's grace. So wherever you are, if you're young and you're 15, I believe that. There's life experience and all this kind of stuff, and there are ways when you're 70 that you can start. But whatever your age is, you're only that age right now, and you only have that opportunity and that promise from God right now, so do it now. Let's bow our heads, please. I would love you to go home. take time to do it now. I would love you to go home. And the bottom thing on the outline, and if you didn't get an outline, maybe you could write this out, how I can put the word into practice right now. David, I'd like you to come up and play the keys. And I just want to give you a little time, two or three minutes here to reflect on that. How does, what can I do right now to put this into practice? So I'm going to give you time to pray. Then I'll pray over you and give the benediction.