Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, are you ready for eternity? Are you ready to meet your Maker? Are you ready to stand before God tonight if God requires your soul of you this night? What will happen to you when you die? Do you look forward to experiencing forever the consequences of the way you are living today? When you die, you will enter into eternity. Then you will live forever with the consequences of how you have lived your life. If you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and you live for Him, to die will be gain. because you will go to be with the Lord in peace and you will have joy and righteousness forever. You will live in the holy presence of God in blessedness and in glory without end. But if you are not resting in the Lord Jesus Christ to pay for your sins by His one sacrifice of Himself on the cross, If you do not have the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ as your own by faith, then you will live forever in eternity under the terrible wrath and judgment of the living God. In the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 11, verses 7 and 8, the Lord sets eternity before us and urges us to prepare for the life after death that shall have no end." Light truly is sweet. Light is a wonderful blessing. Light is pleasant. It's pleasant to see the sun with our own eyes. To see the sun as it rises at the beginning of each new day, that's an exhilarating sight. is one of the most magnificent sights in all creation. The light and the warmth of the sun make the plants to grow and produce sweet and luscious foods that we also enjoy. The light of the sun makes the brilliant colors of creation shine forth brightly day after day. The sun also lightens, sheds light throughout the earth. It warms everything. The light of the sun is essential for everything to function properly. The light of the sun makes everything that God has created to glow in its beauty. All the sweet-smelling fragrances that we enjoy would not exist without the light of the sun. Truly, the light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun. Lack of sun leads to depression. It leads to sluggishness. But the light of the sun wakes people up. It energizes us. It motivates us to go to our work and to be diligent and faithful in it. It is wonderful to observe the rays of the sun as they beam upon the earth. As the sun moves across the sky and sets again on the evening horizon, the sun brings great joy and it also brings many comforts to us in this life. Even the unbeliever delights in the sun. He likes to lie on the beach and drink in the rays of that sun. He likes the rays of the sun to tan his skin. He likes the heat of the sun to warm him. And he also enjoys the many blessings that God brings to his creation through the heat and the light of the sun. He enjoys a beautiful sunrise, an exquisite sunset, He enjoys the brilliant colors of creation that shimmer so majestically, so gloriously in the light of the sun. If your heart is set upon the things of this life, upon all that is here upon this earth, then you live for those earthly comforts and for those earthly joys, for those special exhilarating moments that you see and experience in this life. You live for the joy and the splendor of a beautiful sunrise in the Rocky Mountains. The greatest blessings that you have are earthly. They are things like light, like the rays of the sun. But those who know the Lord enjoy the sun and the light even more than the unbeliever does. By faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the wisdom that comes from the revelation of God in Christ, the believer, the Christian, is delivered from the vanity, the emptiness, and the vexation of this life. The sun is so good. It is so beneficial. It is so glorious. And yet, its intense heat can burn our skin. The sun can ruin and blister so many materials. The sun can make us too hot. It can make us very uncomfortable. It can punish us with its unrelenting power. Vanity, emptiness, uselessness, and vexation or frustration are so deeply connected with the best of the blessings that this world can offer. But the believer, the child of God, is delivered from that vanity and from that frustration. Yes, he enjoys God's good and wonderful gifts, but he has far deeper and more meaningful joys and comforts than merely the things of this life. Merely the things that surround us in this world. If all that you have are the pleasures and the comforts of this life, if all that you can enjoy are light and the rays of the sun, you have precious little to enjoy. The insect enjoys the bright sun. While the sun is shining through the day, the insect flutters about from flower to flower, spreading its wings and drinking in the rich provisions that God gives. We can even, as human beings, spend several minutes watching a butterfly flit about in the brilliant sunlight and enjoy every minute of what we see. There's no reason to think of the coming night when all will be dark. There's no reason to think of the dark of winter because all the butterfly has to enjoy is a few days or a few weeks in the sunlight. There's no reason to think about a rainstorm that might come and kill that butterfly and end his joyous journey through the earth. There's no reason to think about an early frost that might end an insect's short life. All the insect has is the present. That is all that it can enjoy. Who would cloud or shorten that joy by reminding the insect that its happy life will soon pass away? that the winter of darkness, days of darkness, will soon come. And so we say of insects, let it sip this sweet and revel in the light and in the warmth, for tomorrow it dies and is no more. If there were no eternity, if man had no future, If there were not life after death, if today, if the present were all that man had, we would say of man too. Let him enjoy the good things of this life. Let him crown himself with rosebuds before they are withered. Let him eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow he dies. And yet so often, even as human beings, we live as though there were no eternity. And we enjoy the present. We enjoy the sun shining so brightly upon the earth. We enjoy the many pleasures and comforts that God gives to us in this life. But we don't want to think of the evil days, the days of storms, the days of darkness, the days of winter, the days of struggle and difficulty, the days when we feel ill and yet have so much work to accomplish. We like to put that out of our mind. We like to think about those things that are so lovely and so uplifting. We can scarcely admit the possibility that the scene might change. that the vacation comes to an end, that the summer changes into fall, and fall changes into winter. We like to exclude from our minds the prospect of dark days, for that is an unwelcome intruder into the bliss of our comfortable life. And so, many young people revel in their pleasure in all the things that they enjoy. As if it would never end. As if that is all that there is to life. What great folly that is. For man was born for an eternal existence. Man was born to live forever. And this present life is but the time when we must prepare for the life that never ends. For man, death is but the door into eternity. And so, if we shut our eyes to eternity, if we put out the future and the dark days that will come upon us from our minds and from our thinking, because we want only to enjoy what is good and lovely. We are not preparing for eternity. We are determining that we will live only for this life, and we will let eternity take its chance. But whatever the sweetness of our present life may be, however God may bless us with so many comforts and so much prosperity, Even though a man lives for many years, our text says, and rejoices in every one of those days and every one of those years, there is something beyond this life. What is beyond this life? Days of darkness. The writer says in Ecclesiastes 11, verse 8, But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity. To the person who lives only for this life, who doesn't want to think about the days of darkness, who thinks that life is only made up of here and now, of all the good things that tickle our fancy and excite our pleasure, to Him there will be many days of darkness ahead. And all that is coming will be vanity. It will be emptiness. It will be uselessness. But to the child of God, all is light. However, the days of our life Whatever the days of our lives may bring to us, there will always be the light. The light of Jesus Christ. The light of God's power and strength. The psalmist says in Psalm 97, verse 10, You who love the Lord hate evil. He preserves the souls of His saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous. and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name." Psalm 112, verse 4 puts it this way, "'Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion and righteousness.'" The believer, the child of God, has a better sun, a better light than all the light that fills the sky around the earth. He has a greater sun. We read about that light in the prophet Malachi this evening, chapter 4. The Lord through His servant Malachi says, for behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch." That is the darkness that awaits man. That is the darkness of God's judgment. The darkness of destruction. The darkness of eternal burning. That will leave man like a short piece of grain, stubble. It will leave man with neither root nor branch, consumed and broken. But, the Lord says in v. 2 of Malachi 4, but to you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness shall arise. The sun is spelled S-U-N. the brilliant shining light of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. And you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts." The believer has the light of Jesus Christ the light of the Savior of the world, the light of the Messiah. But in Ecclesiastes 11, verses 7 and 8, the Lord is speaking about a person who finds his main enjoyment and comfort here in this life. He finds all his good things here. He lives for all the good things that he can have. to spend a weekend floating down the river, climbing a mountain, enjoying bubbling waters and brooks, watching the sun rise and set, skiing across the mountaintops, and he looks for nothing beyond. He has never thought about his soul's salvation. He's never brought his mind to think about eternity. He's never prepared himself for the life that never ends. He has prepared himself only to live here. Only to get the most that he can and to enjoy as much as he can everything here on this earth. He's not prepared to die. He's not prepared to meet his Maker. He's not prepared to stand before the One to whom he will have to give an account of every idle word that he has spoken, of everything that he has done in his life. Days of darkness are coming, many days of darkness for that person. For at the close of his life, he will not have pleasure in living, The sun and the light, the moon and the stars will be darkened. The clouds will not return after the rain. His body will begin to deteriorate. His teeth will fall out so that he cannot chew and enjoy his food anymore. His strength will fail him. His eyes will become dim so that he cannot see the light that so comforted and strengthened and energized him in his younger days. He will not be able to sleep at night, but he will lie awake. And he will not have all of those comforts and desires that he so much enjoyed throughout his life. Worldly disappointments will crowd into his mind The seeds of disease and maladies will wreak havoc in his body. Gradually, he will sink under the weight of his years. And his natural power to enjoy the good gifts of God will depart. Job says in chapter 10, verses 21 and 22, before I go to the place from which I shall not return, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, a land as dark as darkness itself, as the shadow of death, without any order, where even the light is like darkness." That is the picture of the darkness that awaits those whose life and whose pleasure is only here on this earth. The fatal stroke of death will come upon such a person. And all of his desire and all of those things that he so loved in his life will disappear. And he will have nothing but darkness. Even the light, even the sun in the middle of the day will be like darkness to him. And at last, will come the darkness of the grave. and His body will be buried under feet of dirt. And He will not have the consolation of the promises of God and the comfort of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, how many and how dark will be His days then. He will be banished from light. He will be banished from the presence and from the favor of Almighty God. So we read in Psalm 49, verses 19 and 20, He shall go to the generation of His fathers. They shall never see light. A man who is in honor yet does not understand is like the beasts that perish. Apostle Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 9, These who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and who do not know God shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. They will be banished from God. They will be banished from the Son of Righteousness. they will be banished from the light. For after Jesus Christ returns, the sun will be removed and Christ will be all the light in the world. And so, our Lord Jesus Christ says in Matthew 22, verse 13, that those who will not submit to Him, who will not believe in Jesus Christ, who will not wear the wedding garments that Christ supplies to His people, the King said to His servants, bind Him, hand and foot. Take Him away and cast Him into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In the book of Jude, verse 13, the Lord says, that the judgment of the wicked will be raging waves of the sea foaming up, wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. The sweetness of the light, the comfort and the pleasantness of the sun was there for a moment while they lived their life here on this earth. But oh, how short a moment it was. What a miserable compensation they receive for the darkness that comes afterward. The poverty of the greatest pleasures and comforts here on this earth. And that is all that we have. How empty it is. How poor it is. For everything beyond is darkness. Many days. Days of darkness that never end. And so the Bible says in Luke's Gospel, chapter 6, verse 21, Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, Jesus said, for indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets." Soon, those who are despised here on the earth, the despised portion of the people of God, the church of Jesus Christ, the children of the King, will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. In contrast to that, those who enjoy the best of all the treasures in this earth will be empty. They will have nothing. No light. No sun. No comfort. No joy. No wonder David said in Psalm 16, verse 2, You have said unto the Lord, You are my God. All my springs are in You. Or in Psalm 87, verse 7, all of my fountains, all of my joy, all of my hope comes from the Lord. At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. That's what I long to know. That is where I long to be. Everything that comes from any other source besides the Lord will be vanity in eternity. In eternity, we look forward to the greatness of the glory of God, to the fullness of communion with Him. In eternity, we look forward to righteousness, All sin will be removed. All of the vanity, all of the vexation, all of the sorrow that we experience now in this life will be taken away. And we will have joy and bliss and happiness such as I have not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man. How do you prepare for eternity? You prepare for eternity by repenting. of your sin. By remembering your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of darkness fall upon you, you prepare for eternity by fearing God and keeping His commandments. You prepare for eternity by remembering that God will bring every work that you have done into His just and inscrutable judgment. And the only way that you will be able to stand before Him is by faith in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not clothed in His perfect righteousness, if you are not washed clean in His blood that flowed from Calvary, you will be cast into outer darkness and you will never see the light of day again. But if you turn to Jesus Christ in humility and pray to Him that He will change your heart and redeem your soul from destruction, that He will bring you even today out of the darkness that is in this world into the light of His kingdom. If you pray, God will give you a new heart that loves Him and that desires to serve Him. It turns away from all of the pleasures here on earth to put all of our hope in Him and in Him alone, then you will not end up in that vanity of eternal darkness under the eternal wrath and judgment of God day after day after day and year after year after year without end. But you will dwell in the glorious presence of the Lord And you will be filled with all of the pleasures and joys that you could ever imagine, even more than you could ever imagine. And you will dwell in light that can never be taken away from you. All the joys that are here on this earth will pale in comparison to that. Remember then, your Creator, today before it is too late, and trust in Him and serve Him with gladness. Come to the light. Yes, your sins will be reproved, but you will also be delivered into life that will never end. Amen. Father in Heaven, You have warned us in Your Word in so many ways and in so many places of the great darkness and the great torment and the great destruction that You will bring upon those who do not fear You nor serve You, upon those whose hope and confidence is not truly in Jesus Christ, the only Savior of sinners. Father, we pray that we may not deceive ourselves. that we may not think that we have trusted in You and been delivered from Your wrath that is to come when we have not. But we pray, Father, that we may see in You that sweetest of all treasures, more pleasant for the eyes to behold than even the sun itself, more sweet than the light and all of the other comforts and pleasures that this world can give. Father, drive us tonight to rest only in Christ, to have in Him all that we need. And may we go from this place to live for Him. For if we live for Him, then to die is gain. For we shall be with Him and we shall see Him as He is. And all sin will be removed from us Father, may the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings, and may He draw us unto Himself in power and in glory. May we, Father, grow out and grow fat like stall-fed calves in the treasures and pastures of Your Word, in fellowship with You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. in the joys of that life which is to come. We pray, Father, that you will give us the opportunity to warn those who are around us of that great day of wrath, that great and terrible day of darkness without end, that they too may come to the light and be delivered from your judgment. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.