Well, it's good to be with you this morning. I would like us this morning to take up the subject of the delights of youth, the delights of youth. And I hope that what we'll consider this morning will be of benefit to adults and to young people. But the subject I'd like to take up is generally entitled the delights of youth. And as an introduction to that subject, I'd like you to think of two extreme voices calling out to young people. The one voice would be the voice of our contemporary youth culture. That voice and the spokesman for that voice recognize the vitality of youth. They recognize the fun-loving nature and curiosity of youth. And they say because of those peculiar traits that characterize young people, that young people should pursue every curiosity which tempts them, and they should grasp every pleasure which they might choose, whatever sort. They might choose to grasp video games, or pizza parties, or volleyball, or football, or sexual experimentation, or drug use, or alcohol use, or the dark sides of Gothic culture. Whatever impulses might grasp your attention, pursue them. That would be the voice of our contemporary youth culture. And then imagine another voice, the voice of what I'll simply call a caricature of Christianity. Not true Christianity, but a caricature of Christianity. And the spokespeople for that voice recognize that there is a judgment. And the spokespeople for that voice recognize that God will bring everything into judgment. And the spokespeople for that voice say, therefore, young people should not engage in pursuing video games and pizza parlors and all the rest, because they will be judged. And because they'll be judged, they should live the narrowest and strictest kind of life. Because they'll be judged, they should limit themselves to reading the Bible, to praying, to doing works of evangelism and benevolence. Because of the judgment, they should restrict themselves to the severest, most careful kind of life. Well, if the spokesman for those two options, if they represented the only options that were available to young people, it would not be surprising that most people would choose the contemporary youth culture. It's much more attractive than this false alternative. But what I'd like us to appreciate this morning is that those are not the two alternatives that should be considered by young people or by their parents. And what I think is a biblical view is set forth in the book of Ecclesiastes, and I'd like us to look at this passage in Ecclesiastes chapter 11, beginning in verse 9. Ecclesiastes chapter 11, I'd like to read from verse 9 through chapter 12, verse 1. I just learned that you've been studying the book of Ecclesiastes, so I will assume you have an almost perfect knowledge of this book, and I don't need to give you any introductory remarks. But the writer states in chapter 11, verse 9, Rejoice, O 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 in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Therefore, remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity. 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." There are four directives to young people in this passage, to which I'd like to draw your attention. And I'd like to just list them. There are four directives. And I've tried to do what I don't do very well. I've tried to give these all the same first letter so they might be easier to remember. So, there are these. The first is reach. Reach for the delights of youth. Aggressively reach for the delights of youth. Secondly, Respect God's judgment. Third, remove vexation. And fourth, remember God, specifically remember God as your creator. Now, before looking at these four, I'd like to stress something that is, in my opinion, extremely important. And that is that these four must be taken together. If you improperly emphasize one, you'll lead yourself into something that's very unbiblical and in fact very hurtful. It's that all four of these have to be held together. You've heard that old saying that if a half truth is presented as a whole truth, it's an untruth. And that would definitely be true here. If you were to take one of these four and just hold it out by itself without the balancing influence of the other four, you would be led into serious error that would have many practical consequences that would hurt you. So please keep that in mind throughout that the four have to be held together. So let's look briefly at these four. The first directive is that young people are to reach for the delights of youth. Look again at verse 9. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth. Let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. Reach for the delights of youth. The first admonition is rejoice. Now, that's given as an imperative. It's not a bland statement. It's not like, oh, what about rejoicing? It's an encouragement. It's an invitation to be sure. It's a summons, which is a bit stronger. It's an admonition, which is a bit stronger still. But it's the strongest sort of urging to rejoice. The second statement from the passage is let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Now, again, this is given as an imperative. It's given as something that Young people are aggressively to do. It's not that they're to be passive and hope that something happens which brings them cheer. They're to let their hearts cheer them in the days of your youth. You're to operate yourself in such a way that your heart cheers you up. You're to operate in such a way that your heart makes you happy, that it gives you delight, that it makes you glad. Now, there are, as everyone knows, there are certain characteristics of youth which are especially suited for exuberant joy. It is sad to see young people in some situations look sullen, but youth is especially suited for exuberance. Youth is especially exuberated for a very vital joy. Young people are normally very vital. Young people normally enjoy good health. Young people normally have an uninhibited kind of curiosity. Young people usually have an enthusiasm for fun. There's a freshness to their vigor. There's something about young people laughing, young people enjoying something. There's something about that that's contagious. Well, that's peculiar to young people. I have many happy memories of kids being at my house when our children were kids, and especially the boys. They were boys that would come to our house to be with my son for spring break from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. And they would come, and they would laugh, and the halls would ring with their laughter. And it would echo sometimes them banging each other against the walls, but there was an exuberance that was just contagious. And you couldn't be in the house without having this sense of what a wonderful thing it is to be a kid. Young people are especially suited to vigorous excitement. This passage says in the third place that young people are to walk in the ways of your heart and to walk in the sight of your eyes. Now, that language which I just read is from the New King James translation of the Bible. Listen to a couple of other translations which I think capture this better. The New American Standard Version says, Follow the impulses of your heart. Follow the impulses of your heart. You think that's an unsafe directive? Follow the impulses of your heart and the desire of your eyes. The new international version translated, follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see. The idea in the original language is you're to follow your impulses. Pursue the things you desire and the things you see. Pursue whatever impulses and desires and delights you may choose. And I put the emphasis on what you may choose. You have to recognize the special energies and the vitality and the curiosity and the enthusiasm and the merriment associated with the youth. You have to recognize that and to exploit them. That's the first directive. There is to be this aggressive reaching for the delights of youth. The second directive is that while doing that, in the second place, the youth are called to respect God's judgment. Or we could even use a different word. Youth are called to revere God's judgment, to have a reverence for God's judgment, to respect God's judgment. Look again at verse 9. We read most of it just a moment ago. The middle of verse 9, walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these, God will bring you into judgment. Now, this is not sarcasm. It's not sarcasm. Some people read this as if this is sarcasm or worse, as if it's some kind of a ghoulish joke, some kind of a gimmick. Some people read this as if the writer is Like throwing throwing out an ugly challenge to two young people do whatever you want But just just just remember just remember God will get you for it That is not at all the idea of this passage There's no sarcasm in this passage. There's no ghoulish ugliness in the writer's heart in this passage. This is just a statement of realism There will be a judgment There will be a judgment. It's folly to not respect that fact there will be a judgment. But the fact that there will be a judgment doesn't cancel out the exuberant nature of youth. And the fact that there will be a judgment doesn't mean that young people shouldn't enjoy and even exploit the privileges that are associated with youth. There will be a judgment. But the writer's point is that we're to know this. We're to know that there are special Enthusiasms and delights connected to youth were to know that there will be a judgment and were to live in the light of the two together. There will be a judgment. Now this becomes very large in the writer's mind as this book closes. You remember how again and again he will explore things in life and he'll come to the conclusion that it's all vanity. It's all vanity. And part of what that means is that all the things that you might legitimately enjoy about life And of course, he explores some things that are illegitimate as well. But even among the things that are legitimate to enjoy in life, they only last a few years. They're very temporal. There's nothing that's really satisfying in whatever takes place in this life. And therefore, the writer, toward the end of the book, starts focusing more and more upon what's beyond this life. He starts focusing more and more upon what isn't vanity, what doesn't pass away, that is, what happens for eternity. And it's in the light of that that he makes this statement here. Young people should enjoy their youth. Young people should follow their impulses. Young people should walk in the delight of their eyes, knowing that there's going to be this judgment. And notice the way he ends the book. It's almost as if when we study the book of Ecclesiastes, that we should read the end first. But notice what he says in verse 13 of the last chapter. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. And if you are familiar with the book Ecclesiastes, the whole matter is very broad. He has explored just about everything that human beings are interested in in his life. And he just summarizes those explorations in this book. Well, this is having considered it all. This is the conclusion. This is this is what everything boils down to. Fear God. And keep his commandments, for this is man's all. It's a hard translation there. But the idea is this is the whole story. This is what human beings are all about. This is what is at the essence of being a person. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of what you are. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. The conclusion, he's saying, of the whole matter is live in the light of the judgment. And the New Testament, of course, gives us a great deal more information than the Old Testament does about what happens at the judgment and after the judgment. But the point is, this life, whether you're talking about youth or whether you're talking about what he wrote about in the immediately preceding verses, whether you're talking about youth or whether you're talking about old age, it's quickly over. And then there's the judgment. And then there's a permanent order. And he's simply saying to young people, live in the light of that, but enjoy your youth. When this first principle, that we're to reach for the delights of youth, and the second principle, that we're to respect God's judgment, when these two are taken together, the point is that young people should be governed by the reality of the judgment. And in that light, they should grasp all the delights and all the joys that their hearts and their eyes present to them. I'd like to read to you the remarks of the two commentators, just to show that I'm not completely out in left field on this. The first is the commentator Leopold, who says this. The command implies do all your enjoying in such a way that you regulate it by the thought of the last judgment. Let the heart that is rooted in the fear of God walk in whatever ways it may desire. I think of that again. Let the heart that is rooted in the fear of God walk in all the ways that it may desire, for it will assuredly desire what is right. But now listen to this statement. It's this statement for which I'm reading the quote. But the form of the statement, that is the form of this statement in this passage, the form of the statement emphasizes, the form of the statement emphasizes not the restrictions involved, but the broad areas which are thrown open for our enjoyment. I think he's right in that, that the way that that verse is constructed, there is a focus upon restriction. We should be governed by the light of the judgment. But the balance of that passage is not to say how small that makes our way, but the balance of that passage is to emphasize how much is open to the young person to enjoy. Let me read to you another quote by a different commentator He said this, real but innocent and pure pleasures are recommended. Life must be lived with eternity's values in view. Your one life will soon be passed and only what is done for Christ and with eyes fixed on Christ will last. So have fun. Rejoice and delight yourself in the thrill of living. Yet put a prudent tone into your step by recalling that Today will reappear in the tomorrow when we face the one who fully knows right from wrong. True happiness consists of simultaneously enjoying the present and looking forward to the future. Now, I think that's really important to grasp, that true happiness exists in simultaneously living fully in the present with an eye to the future. The picture here is not primarily restriction, restriction, don't, don't, don't. There's a place for that, but the focus here is upon follow, reach out, look to the impulses of your heart, be broad in your enjoyments, and at the same time, be completely governed by the awareness that whatever you do today is going to come back in the day of judgment Whatever you do today is going to become the focus, a very specialized focus of God's eye in the judgment. Whatever you do today, you'll make an account for in the future. But the implication is not just stay in your room and pray and read the Bible. The implication to young people is to fully take advantage of all the peculiar energies and vitality and interests and curiosities of youth. The first directive is reach for the delights of youth. The second is respect God's judgment. The third directive is to remove vexation and evil. Verse 10. Therefore, remove sorrow from your heart. Put away evil from your flesh. The focus of this passage is upon both the heart and the body. Remove. evil from your heart and your body. Now, it's probably pretty obvious to everybody what these two foci would be, what the difference is between the heart and the body. The heart here would probably refer really to all the immaterial parts of our being, to the mind, to the feelings, to the attitudes, to our motives, to the inner person. And the writer is saying, remove from that arena, from your feelings, from your thoughts, from your motives, remove something. The translation that I'm reading from uses the English word sorrow. But the basic meaning of the Hebrew word is really that idea of vexation. Sorrow and vexation are really not synonymous. They both convey a slightly different nuance of ideas. But the basic idea of the writer's word is the idea of vexation. Remove vexation from your heart. Remove inner agitation from your heart. Remove that which causes sorrow, which causes anger, which causes distress. Remove that which creates inner tension, grief, anxiety. As an aside, and I really only mean this to be an aside, maybe it should become the whole rest of the point, But as an aside, what is it that most creates vexation in the inner being? It's guilt. It's guilt. Now, there are other things to be sure. Anger can eat your soul. There are lots of things that can cause vexation, but guilt, guilt, real guilt, a sense of wrongdoing, a sense of shame, having done this and now you just hope nobody ever finds out. Guilt. Guilt is no doubt the greatest cause for vexation that there is. And that's the directive. In the arena of your thoughts, in the arena of your feelings, in the inner being, do everything that you can to remove vexation. Young people should remove from them whatever causes confusion, whatever causes anguish, whatever causes shame, which, as I say, is primarily guilt. The focus is not only upon the inner being. The focus is also upon the body. Put away evil from your flesh. Some translations use the English word pain. But again, the basic idea is evil. Something that's bad. Those things that are bad are supposed to be taken away from our bodies. Whatever we might do with our hands. Whatever we might do with our eyes. Whatever we might do with our feet. Whatever we might do with our reproductive organs, whatever we might do with our body that causes vexation should be stopped. Now, this is not. This is not the. Let me put it in a more positive way, this is the counsel of somebody who has explored all the things that do, in fact, displease God. And he has found that there is no satisfaction in them. Guilt is a horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible thing. And he's saying to young people, reach out and enjoy all the exuberance and vitality of youth. Do it in the context of a coming judgment and do everything you can to remove that which causes vexation, vexation in terms of what you think and feel. and vexation in terms of what you do with your body. I've underlined this in my notes. If I had access to your notes, I'd underline this in your notes as well. I'd really like to make a point of this. I think the writer's point here is that true delight has a moral element, that which is really happy, that which you enjoy, and you're never ashamed of it. That which is really delightful has a moral element. Vexation and evil must be removed if the young person is to enjoy the unique opportunities and the unique potentials of his youth. In the light of these directives, we should not be surprised to learn that there is a moral dimension to true fun, that there is a moral dimension to true happiness. Derek Kedner, another A commentator wrote this happy sentence which I think is worth remembering. He said, joy was created to dance with goodness and not alone. Joy was created to dance with goodness. Dance doesn't dance. Joy doesn't dance alone. Joy has a partner when it dances. Joy is designed to dance with goodness. Now, we really don't need Derek Kidner to tell us that. You know the first Psalm. The blessed man, the happy man, is what? The blessed man is the man who avoids ungodliness and he delights himself in the law of God. There's a moral element to being happy. The Beatitudes, blessed, blessed, blessed, happy, happy, happy. All the Beatitudes draw attention to some aspect of morality. Happiness has a moral element. And that seems to be what is most absent and most destructive in the voices of our youth culture. They try to divorce fun and happiness from the moral dimension. And so, sex without the moral dimension, they say, is fun. without any moral dimension, they say is fun. This activity and that activity, who cares about the moral dimension? They say is fun. Now, the reason that anybody buys into that is because sin does have its pleasure for a season. For a season. This guy was old enough to know how short the season was. And he's appealing to young people. Reach out for all the exuberance of life. Respect the judgment of God. Remove that which causes vexation. Remove from your mind this idea that there can be any fun that's divorced from the moral element. Notice the end of the verse. The end of the verse says that we should put away evil from your flesh for childhood and youth are vanity. One of the commentators noted that the Hebrew term for youth in this passage literally means black hair. And you appreciate that this is written in a Semitic culture. And in a Semitic culture, almost all people are born with dark hair. When they're young, they have black hair. When they're older, they have no hair or they have gray hair. And the point that the writer is making is enjoy your youth. because the period of dark hair, the period of youth, is very short. And he goes on to expand on this in the next chapter, that there will come a point where it's not so easy to enjoy life. It's just not at all as easy to enjoy life when you're older. And the point, though, is, it is an interesting passage to me, because the point is he's saying your opportunity is short, so make the most of it. He doesn't say your opportunity is short, so just grit and bear it until you get old and you won't have to deal with all this exuberance anymore. Your opportunity to be exuberant, he says, is short. So do everything you can to reach for the joys of youth, respecting the judgment, removing vexations, because your opportunities are small. And then the fourth directive is that we should remember, the directive is remember thy creator, remember your creator. in the days of your youth. And that's in chapter 12, verse 1. Remember, set your mind on the Lord. In all this reaching out for delight, in all this thought about the judgment, in all this concern to remove vexation, remember the Lord. Don't allow the wonders of youth to so preoccupy your mind that you forget the God who has given you all these wonders of youth. But the passage doesn't say exactly what I've been saying. It doesn't just say remember the Lord. It says remember your creator. Remember the Lord as your creator. Remember the Lord as the one who has designed you as the one who knows how you work and what will bring you the most fulfillment. We seem to live as if every generation and especially every young person Starts the pursuit of what works and what makes me happy alone as if there's no place to go except to your own inner self Well, I think that's part of why I says remember your creator in the days of you. You didn't make yourself You don't really know what's best for you. You didn't make yourself. You didn't create your emotions You didn't create all the connections between the emotions and morality, but your creator did So, remember Him. Think about Him as your Creator. Don't allow yourself to think of you as if you were uncreated, as if you were autonomous, as if you give yourself your own definitions. Recognize that you are a creature. Recognize that you are a creature created by God Himself. Remember that He made you in His image. Remember that being in His image, you're not like the chimpanzee. And being in His image, you're not like the dog who's in heat. Being in his image, you have moral qualities. And unless those moral qualities are recognized, you'll never live and you'll never enjoy living in the way that you're designed to live. We're to remember that we can never fulfill our purpose or enjoy our existence unless we live our lives as our creator designed them to be lived. Imagine how frustrated an elephant would be if he was determined to fly. Or you imagine how frustrated a mouse would be if he tried to roar and rule the jungle. Well, the problem would be that they don't appreciate how they've been made. They don't appreciate what they were made to be, what they were made to do. And so trying to live a role that they weren't designed for leads them to vexation. Well, many people, and especially many young people, before they've been beaten up by life, Many young people want to live as if I create my own definition. I create my own sense of self. I create my own criteria for what is good and what is not good, for what makes me happy and for what doesn't. And pretty soon you're like the elephant who's been jumping off the cliff trying to fly. And some never realize that the reason they crashed and burned was because they were unwilling to recognize that they were creatures of a creator. and that that creator had a design for their lives, and they refused to accept that definition. These four directives, I say, must be taken together. This directive to reach out aggressively and follow the impulses of youth, this directive to do all of that respecting the judgment, to do all of that removing that which causes vexation, primarily guilt, and remembering your Creator for the days of your youth. There are so many things now that these four directives open up, and I would only like to draw your attention to just a few in the minutes that we have left. One is that there is not much to do about removing guilt. Thankfully, there are not 75 directives that we have to master to deal with our guilt. We deal with guilt by repentance. We deal with guilt by coming to God and asking him to forgive us. And whether you're young or whether you're old, unless you're below the point of self-expression, you have offended God, and you have experienced senses of guilt. And if you haven't experienced senses of guilt, it's because of ignorance or because of a hardened conscience. So most everybody in this room, there are no people here that are before a state of consciousness, most everybody in this room, everybody in this room, has had to face the subject of guilt. Well, there are two things to say about that. The first is There is great relief in repentance. Now, if repentance is simply bowing to some inner sense of shame and crying out to the void for forgiveness, that's really nothing. But if repentance is this awareness that I have sinned against God and God is merciful and that in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness and if repentance is turning away from the sin and running to Christ. If that's what repentance is. What I mean to say, if that's what you're if that's what you're experiencing, then there's every reason for hope. There is relief in repentance. There's no relief in remorse. There's no relief in shame. There's no relief in groveling. But there is relief in simply turning away from sin and looking to God through Jesus Christ for forgiveness, because there is forgiveness with God. God is good and ready to forgive. He's abundant and loving kindness to all who call upon him. The other way, these are not alternatives, it's the second part of the one, is that we are to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We deal with guilt and shame not only by repentance, but by embracing the promises of God and endeavoring to live in ways that don't create shame. Whenever I think of that passage that I just referred to, I think of a sermon that Jim Long preached back in Florida. You might like to get a tape of the sermon. Having these promises. Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in fear of God. The passage begins with an awareness of promises. There's hope for those who have to deal with guilt. A second point of application that I'd like to stress is that there is no contradiction between seeking the greatest delights of youth on the one hand and soberly preparing for judgment on the other. There is no contradiction. Some people seem like it has to be one or the other. You either have to abandon yourself to pleasure or you have to constrict yourself to the monastic life because of the fear of judgment. And some people act as if you can't put these two principles together. We must put them together. There is no contradiction between exuberantly seeking to enjoy youth doing so with an awareness that it's all going to come to us in day of judgment. That just means enjoy the things that are best. That just means enjoy the things you won't be ashamed of in the day of judgment. It doesn't restrict you from anything that would be truly good. It opens everything up to you that would be truly good. Another application that I'd like to make is that parents and adults must not create a picture of godliness which disagrees with this passage. Parents and adults must not present a picture of piety which disagrees with this passage. There are inbred extremes in parents and young people. Young people want to go for the extreme of freedom. Let me do what I want to do. And parents want to go to the extremes of restriction, restriction, restriction. Well, they're both wrong. Curse on both their houses. This is what's true. And we who are adults mustn't present a picture of piety, of Christian piety for our young people, which is different than this passage. Our kids should be the liveliest kids in the town. They should be exuberant with all the privileges that are connected to their age. And it should all be an exuberant purity and wholesomeness because they're engaging in everything with the thought of judgment. They're removing everything that causes guilt and vexation, so they're pure and without the restraints of guilt. Well, I'm going to stop in two minutes, if that clock is accurate, so let me just say this at the end. Perhaps I should have said this at the beginning. Those of you who are young, this point in your youth is the very best time for you to come to Christ. It is the very best time for you to come to Christ. Some kids and college students seem to think that this is the time to enjoy life, to sow wild oats, and later, maybe later, but this is the best time. Negatively, this is the best time, because the longer you live in sin, the more it will affect you. Some of you have not engaged in the sins of your parents or of your parents' generation, but some of your parents and some who are my age are permanently scarred by sins of their youth. This is the time for you to come to Christ before you engage in things that will scar you for the rest of your life. Worse than scarring you, you continue in sin, your heart becomes harder and harder. And though you may experience some softness to God now, if you don't come to Him now, There may be a point where that softness is just gone, and you're just indifferent and hard to Him. But positively, positively is better than negatively. Positively, this is the time, the best time for you to come to Christ. Because you can bring all of your energy and enthusiasm to Him. And you can use all of that energy and curiosity in ways that please Him. In ways that will bring you eternal benefits. in ways that in the judgment you'll be so glad that you came to Christ as a teenager, as opposed to coming to Christ in your thirties, when so many opportunities for energy and youth are just lost to you. Oh, may God make this passage very special to us all. Let's pray together. Our Father, we want in every way to be submissive to your word and to bow to it. We thank you for the Bible. We thank you for giving us clear guidance about life, about you, about what you want. We especially thank you for revealing yourself to us. We would project all the wrong ideas upon you. You have revealed Yourself to be the God who is a consuming fire. You have revealed Yourself as the God who is love. You have revealed Yourself as the God who so loved the world that He gave His Son that all the ones who believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. I pray for all the young people in this church and in this room that you would make this passage living and special to them, that it would govern their lives. I pray for the adults in this church, that you would help them to set forth the perspectives of this text in ways that excite and delight their children. We pray that you would help us to worship you now. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.