Good morning, everyone. Turn
with me, if you would, please, to Ecclesiastes, Chapter 12. Ecclesiastes. You'll have Psalms,
Proverbs, and the next book will be Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes, Chapter 12. Ecclesiastes, Chapter 12. We're
going to start with the last two verses of chapter 11, Ecclesiastes
11, 9. Rejoice, O young man, in thy
youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth,
and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine
eyes. But know thou, for all these
things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore, remove sorrow
from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh, for childhood
and youth are vanity. Remember now thy Creator in the
days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years
draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. While the sun, or the light,
or the moon, or the stars be not darkened, nor the clouds
return after the rain, In the day when the keepers of the house
shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and
the grinders cease, because they are few, and those that look
out of the windows be darkened, and the doors shall be shut in
the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall
rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music
shall be brought low, also when they shall be afraid of that
which is high, And fear shall be in the way, and the almond
tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden,
and desire shall fail, because man goeth to his long home, and
the mourners go about the street, or ever the silver cord be loosed. or the golden bowl be broken,
or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken
at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to
the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God
who gave it. Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher. all is vanity. And moreover,
because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge,
yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and said in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out
acceptable words, and that which was written was upright, even
words of truth. The words of the wise are as
golds, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies,
which are given from one shepherd. And further, by these, my son,
be admonished, of making many books there is no end, and much
study is a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter. Fear God, and keep his commandments. For this is the whole duty of
man. For God shall bring every work into judgment and every
secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Let's
pray. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. For anyone who speaks the gospel,
it is a burden, heavy burden, but a blessed burden to tell
people what Jesus Christ has done for us. It's also an urgent
burden. We who are meeting here this
morning may not have the opportunity to meet again. Time is fleeting. We call them accidents, but God's
providence goes on. things could happen. We know
all things work for good to them that love God, to those that
are called according to His purpose. It could be that that last soul
that God has called and saves could happen today. And then
we who know Him, whom He knows, will forever be with the Lord. There's an urgency in the message
of the gospel. My purpose in this message for
us this morning is for us to view our Creator again. I do not have all that could
ever be said about him. I couldn't say it in a lifetime. But I'll give us some thoughts
about our Creator. My purpose in the message is
also for us to see who we are as created beings. He's the Creator. We're the created
and everything around us. My purpose also is for us to
have hope in Jesus Christ, who is the faithful creator. The created became one of his
own created. God prepared him a body, and
that body was prepared for sacrifice, to substitute himself for his
people, because his people were unable to do anything for themselves. He lived the life that they could
not live. He died the death that they should
have died. And he appears before the Father
for them, making intercession for them. We thank the Lord for
those of us who have hope in Christ. And that's the only hope
I have, hope in Christ. As Brad said Wednesday night,
we put all of our stuff in one thing. All of our eggs are in
one basket. And that's Jesus Christ and him
alone. There is our hope of glory. There's nothing we can do. There's
nothing we could say. There is no place to go. But
Jesus Christ, even the disciples said that, where else shall we
go? Thou hast the words of life.
And those words of life, part of it is written here for us
in Ecclesiastes chapter 12. And I'd like for us to look at
this for just a few moments this morning. Remember now thy creator
in the days of thy youth. Remember. Consider. Consider
how urgent it is. Remember. When we come together
to take of the Lord's table, we do this, our Lord said, do
this in remembrance of me. Take time to consider. Remember. Now you gotta have something
to remember to remember, don't you? If you wasn't taught it,
you don't know it. For years, I wasn't taught it.
And then one day, I heard the message, and now I remember. And that's what we do every Sunday
morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and sometimes when we
gather together as family and friends in our houses and so
on, that's what we do. We remember what our Lord has
done. We remember our Creator. We take time to worship and give
Him praise and glory that's due His name. Now, if you don't have
anything to remember, I trust that before the morning is over,
you will have something to remember because only the Lord can bring
to remembrance the things that God has said. We trust God will
bring these things to remembrance for you. Jeremiah. in his last
few chapters was talking to Israel about Babylon, and while he was
talking about Babylon and what Babylon had done and carried
him off and how the Lord in his grace was going to bring them
back, he said, one of the problems you had, Israel, was that you
have forgotten your resting place. Our resting place is Christ Jesus
our Lord. Have we forgotten that? We go
about our daily lives sometimes not even thinking about our Lord
Jesus Christ. I know I do. I'm speaking for
myself. I know I do. I get so busy and
so caught up and so involved in other things that I forget
about the Lord. Not forgetting sometimes who
I am and who He is, but forgetting to think about and worship and
honor and praise and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. Each gathering
we have, we remember God's grace and God's mercy and God's love,
and we remember that Jesus Christ is our only resting place. Remember, remember to me equals
faith in the preached word of God, in the gospel, faith in
Jesus Christ. Remember. Remember now. Now's the time. That's why I
said it's urgent. Now is the time. Today is the
day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Both
the psalmist said and Paul repeated it. Today Now is the time. It's high time that we awake
out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we
first believed. Now is the time. Now, while you
are alert. Now, while you are alive. Now, while you are able, remember
what Jesus Christ, our God, has done for us. Why do people put
it off? Why do people stop thinking about
the Lord? Why do people forget about the
Lord? Unbelief, to be sure. They have
better things to do. But what is better than to worship
the One who made you, who is your Maker? Rebellious heart
can be an answer. Men have rebellious hearts. Without
the Lord, they're unable. They have this inability to trust
in the Lord. And they have a rebellious heart.
I won't do what God tells me to do. He says, come unto me
all ye that labor, and I will give you rest. I ain't going
to do it. I can find rest for myself. Where? Where do you find
rest? Do you find rest in your works?
How many works do you have to do to find that kind of rest? Do you find rest in all the Bible
knowledge that you've got, in all the doctrines that you know?
How much do you have to know? How much do you, Scripture, do
you have to memorize to find that kind of rest? No, we have
a rebellious heart. We spit in the face of God. We shake our fists in the face
of God. And don't think that we would
not be any better than the priests and the people who went about
just before Jesus went to the cross and cried out, Crucify
Him! Crucify Him! Away with this man! We'll not have anything to do
with this man! Remember now. Some people say,
I'll hold back. I'll wait till a better time.
That's the urgency of this passage. That's the warning that's found
in this passage. That's the hope that's also found
in this passage. Don't wait. Now's the time. Don't wait. Now. Now, I will
someday, I've heard some people say that. I will someday. You
will not. You will not. You won't do anything
until God first comes to you and says, here's the truth. And when he comes to you and
tells you in your heart the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, you
won't wait. You'll come to the Lord. And
you'll come as fast as you can. Remember now thy Creator, thy
Creator, thy Maker. Remember your Maker. Remember
the Creator. He said, I am the Lord and there
is none else. John said, this is the true God
and eternal life. He made everything by the word
of His mouth. He spoke it and it came into
existence. He started with nothing and now
we have a whole universe and a world full of people because
He spoke it. He made it. He's the creator. He is the one with whom we have
to do. He rules everything that's His. All, He made all and all of it
is His. Some people say, well, I've got
such and such money in the bank. I tell you, he is lord of all,
and you don't have a thing in the bank. He's got it all. The billionaires that they talk
about, you see on the internet, you see on the news, they have
so much money and so many things. No, they don't. He owns it all. You see, he owns the cattle on
the thousand hills and the wealth in every mine. He's Lord. He made it. It's his. And he will do with his what
he wants to do. He's sovereign. He knows the
end from the beginning. His providential care of this
whole universe belongs to him and no other. At the end, of
time after everything is all said and done. According to the
book of Revelation, he looks back and says, it's done. It's completed. It's perfect.
Everything that happened in this world, he's in control. He brings
it to pass. There are no accidents with God. In creation, he said about everything
that he had made, it's good. At the cross, after he had bore
our sins and was ready to die, he cried out, it is finished.
It's perfect. His salvation is perfect. And
at the end, he will say done. As a matter of fact, he'll say
that to his people, won't he? Well done. thou good and faithful
servant, thou hast been faithful of a few things, I'll make you
ruler over many. Enter in to the joys of thy Lord. He's the creator. Remember now
the creator who doeth all things well, all things work together
for good. to them that love God, to those
that are called according to His purpose. And we who know
the Lord cry out just like Abraham did, shall not the judge of the
earth do right? He always does. Everything is
done right. He created everything according
to His own purpose. Everything starts and ends with
Him. That's who our creator is. And
one day he's going to take this earth, this universe, and he's
just going to fold it up like a garment. And it'll all be done.
That's the urgency of this message. He stands apart from all creation. As I mentioned, he's the created. He's the creator. We're the creator. David said
it in Psalm 100. He said, it is he that hath made
us and not we ourselves. Sometimes we think we're self-made
men and women. No, we're not. God has guided
the affairs and is guiding the affairs of men. We are who we
are by his grace, by his providence. We are finite. He is infinite. How do you describe God? What
way can we describe one who is so far above us? As a matter
of fact, His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not
our ways. As high as the heaven is above,
so are His thoughts above our thoughts and our ways. How do
you describe Him? He's infinite. What does infinite
mean? Undefinable. How do you define
God? The only way we can define God
is by the character that He is listed for us to know. We are
insignificant. He's everything. One day we were
standing at the back there and some of us were standing together
and we're talking about how small man is. One man in a world of
men. One man on a globe that's 25,000
mile circumference or whatever it is. One man in a solar system. One man in a In a universe how
insignificantly small we are and yet God chose to look upon
us. Think about how great our creator
is. He doesn't need us to be God. He doesn't need us to be God.
He functions on his own. When he swears by something,
he can swear by no other but by himself. When he makes a vow,
he can make a vow by no other but himself. Hold your place
there. Let's look at that. Look at Hebrews
chapter six. Hebrews chapter six, verse 13. For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
saying, surely, blessing, I will bless thee. Multiplying, I will
multiply thee. He's omniscient. He knows everything. He's omnipresent. He sees it
all. He's omnipotent. There's nothing
too hard for Him. And we can only describe Him
by His character. His character is that He is holy.
He told us, Be ye holy, for I am holy. His character is just. Righteous. He is the Lord, our
righteousness. His character is perfect. He
says, Be ye perfect, for I am perfect. His character is love. He is, the Bible says, John said,
God is love. And I want you to know something.
When we talk about the Creator, we're talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at it in John chapter 1.
The Gospel of John chapter 1. The Creator is none other than
our Lord Jesus Christ. John 1, verse 1. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made
by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Who is this Word of God? Look
at verse 14. And the Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us. And we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." Jesus Christ is the Creator. As a matter of fact, in Colossians
chapter 1 and verse 16, Paul repeats it this way. In Colossians
1 verse 16. Speaking of Jesus Christ, for
by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. He does with his creation whatever
he wants. You know, everyone in the scripture
that the creator reveals himself to comes away with a different
view of him and of themselves. Isaiah fell down and said, woe
is me for I'm undone when he saw the Lord high and lifted
up sitting on the throne. Nebuchadnezzar stood up there
and said, look what I have built, the majestic Babylon, the seven
wonders of the world all wrapped into this one place. And God
told him, you're going to go out like an animal. You're going
to feed on grass. Your fingernails are going to
grow like eagle claws. Your hair is going to mat up
for a time. At the end of that time, Nebuchadnezzar
cries out to all when he says, he rules in the heavens. In the habitants of the earth,
he does whatever he wants to do. And then he puts this thing
right at the end of it when he says, no one can stay his hand,
who can say, what doest thou? Who can say to the creator, why
have you made me thus? Who can say to the Creator, why
did you create it that way? We're just created beings. We're
the insignificant. We're the finite. Paul was caught
up to the third heaven. I think it was Paul anyhow. Paul
was caught up to the third heaven. But you know, he didn't say who
it was. And I think the reason he didn't say who it was was
because he saw the Creator and realized he was nothing before
God. He couldn't even talk about what he saw. It was so high,
so majestic, and so wonderful. And this is the one with whom
we have to do. No wonder the psalmist said,
oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before
the Lord, our maker. Paul said it this way, there's
one God, one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. Peter said he called him a faithful
creator. Remember now thy creator. Remember now thy creator in the
days of thy youth. He doesn't merely mean young
folk, although there's a lot of young folk who've been coming
to our church or here this morning. He didn't necessarily mean just
young folk. He meant those who are alert,
those who are able, those who can think, those who have a soundness
of body and a soundness of mind. Remember now thy creator in the
days of thy youth. And the reason I say that is
because in chapter 11 and verses 9 and 10, He talks about these young folk.
Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer
thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine
heart, in the sight of thine eyes. But know thou, for all
these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove
sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh. For
childhood and youth are what? Vanity. Empty. Empty. Empty without the Creator. That's
why He goes on and says, now remember thy Creator. They're empty without the Creator.
Old folk are empty without the Creator too. Everyone without
Christ is empty. Empty. All they go about with
the semblance of life. And God, by His grace, allows
them to live. But man is empty without Christ
Jesus the Lord. And Peter said it this way, neither
is there salvation in any other name given among men, under heaven
given among men, whereby ye must be saved. God is jealous over
His Son. He reveals Himself by His Son.
He's the express image of the father who made all things. He is the only salvation of his
people. He only satisfies the father. That's why it's important for
us to remember the creator, Jesus Christ. He's our only hope. He's the only salvation. He is
God. Remember now thy creator in the
days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, while the
years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. The urgency of the message, there
will come a time when you will get older than people. There
will come a time when your mind doesn't work like it used to.
There will come a time And maybe, we call it accident, it's God's
purpose in our lives, that God brings us down low and we're
unable to move, unable to go. There will come that time. And
who knows when the appointed time of our death is? Paul talks
about that appointment with death. Who knows when that's gonna be?
It could be today for some of us. And there's no more opportunity. While the evil days come not,
nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure
in them. That word pleasure is an interesting
word. It's found twice in chapter 12. We'll see it here in a minute.
That pleasure is translated also satisfied, when you have no satisfaction
in it. When dementia sets in for some
folk, have you ever wondered how much they remember and think
of God? Especially God's people. Dementia
can take over us. Sometimes I think I have a form
of it. I can't remember verses like that I'd studied and memorized
years ago. I can't remember them like I
used to. I was talking to Brad Wednesday night, and I said,
you know, I thank you for Strong's Concordance, because all I need
is to find a phrase, and then I can go to Strong's Concordance,
and I can find that verse. Would you read here what it says
in verse 3? In the day when the keepers of
the house shall tremble, when the hands and the body begins
to shake. And the strong men shall bow
themselves as they get over, some are bent over, more and
more. And the grinders cease because
they are few, will begin to lose their teeth. And those that look
out of the windows be darkened, our eyes begin to get dim. And
the doors shall be shut in the street when the sound of the
grinding is low, and he will rise up with the voice of the
bird, that rooster will get him up. or the birds outside the
window. And all the daughters of music
shall be brought low. I enjoy leading songs and singing,
but I know, and I can tell it even now, my voice is getting
a little bit harder to work with. And one of these days, I won't
be able to sing, at least not like I used to. It's coming.
It's called old age. By God's grace, we all get to
go through it. And it just seems to get worse
and worse. And when they shall be afraid
of that which is high, and fear shall be in the way, and the
almond tree shall flourish. White hair. You ever seen an
almond tree in bloom? Just as white as can be. And
the grasshopper shall be a burden. That cricket goes on and it just
bothers you to no end. That same sound over and over. It's almost like commercials
on TV, isn't it? and desire shall fail, passions
shall cease, because man goes to his long home, eternal home. You're either going to go there
with Christ, or you're going to go there without Christ. It's his choice. He's the creator. He does right. Why should I remember
the Creator in the days of my youth? Well, before I get to
that, I was talking about satisfaction. The psalmist David said, I shall
be satisfied when I awake with I-likeness. That's the word pleasure
at the end of verse one. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with I-likeness. David said it this way at the
end of his life, this is all my salvation and desire. That's the same word, pleasure.
This is all my salvation and my desire. He was talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that God had given
to him. He said also, the works of the
Lord are great, sought of all them that have pleasure therein. And then look here in verse 10
of chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes. The preacher sought to find out
acceptable, that's the same word, pleasure. Acceptable words, satisfying
words. Now I know the Lord, our only
satisfaction with the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ because
He only satisfies the Lord. The Lord is satisfied with Him.
But oh what pleasure and what satisfaction when He reveals
to you the gospel and you see the truth and you know the truth
and God has written that truth right in your heart. Why should
we remember? because of the frailty of the
human body. It just gets worse and worse. There'll come a time
when the body will not work like it did when we were young. We
can't stop the process. Boy, there's medicines and drugs
and everything out there that they say, you know, make you
look younger, make you feel younger, and all kinds of people are spending
billions and billions of dollars. Even centuries ago, Ponce de
Leon went looking for the Fountain of Youth. But it's not there.
You cannot stop the process. Disease will come. You may become
disabled. And I'm using this word in the,
demented. There might be dementia set in. Can't remember anything. Weak. Why should you remember? Because man is faulty at his
best. He's faulty. In Adam all die. All are sinners. Sin brings famine,
pestilence, and sword. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. Man at his best is faulty. There's no good thing about him.
And Isaiah said it this way, woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Not only because of the frailty of our bodies,
not only because at our best we are faulty, but because of
the futility of all man's efforts to make it different. All our gains are going to be
lost because they all belong to Him in the first place. Naked
you came into the world, naked you're going out. All our gains
are meaningless. What do you have that God didn't
give you? The Creator gave it all And all our efforts to live
longer are going to end in death. It is appointed of the man once
to die. And after this, the judgment.
The only thing man has is an eternal living soul. And guess
what? God gave it to him. That's all
we have. That soul will be forever with
him. or forever without him. Now let me quickly see if I can
conclude this. Go down to verses 13 and 14. Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter. All about wisdom that he has
written in the book of Ecclesiastes, this is the conclusion. Fear
God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of
man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, every secret
thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Fear God. What does that mean? Fear God. That's exactly what it means.
Yes, I believe that fear in some places means reverence, means
to look at him in awe. But if you are without Christ,
there's reason to fear. Because if the Creator decides
for you, now is the time for you not to have pleasure or knowledge
or life. Then you'll stand before a holy
God on your own. All you'll have is yourself.
Do you think that will do? Brother Gary, are you trying
to scare us? If I could show you what it's like, which I cannot
do, but I could try. If I could show you what it's
like on the other side of death, for those without Christ, I'd
do it. There is something to fear, but
that's not the greatest fear. The greatest fear is to stand
before a holy God, so far above, so great, so wonderful, and we
are nothing but a sinful creature. Fear God. Paul said it in Hebrews,
ìThe fearful things will fall into the hands of the living
God.î Paul is speaking about the judgment seat of Christ which
we read about here. Paul speaks about the judgment
seat of Christ and he says, ìKnowing therefore the terror of the Lord.î
And the problem is there is no fear of God before peopleís eyes.
They donít know that they are sinners. They havenít seen that
God is holy. and that God is the creator. The writer of Proverbs said it
this way, the fear of the Lord tendeth to life. That's why I'm
not afraid to talk to you about fearing God, because it tends
to life. Fear God, keep his commandments.
His commandments are all wrapped up in love God the Father with
all your heart, mind, and soul. Love one another, your neighbor
as yourself. The Lord Jesus told us that.
And then Paul, the Lord Jesus also said, I've got a new commandment
for you. Love one another as I have loved
you. And Paul said in Galatians, all
the law is fulfilled in this, that you love one another. Keep
his commandments. But the problem is there's a
great goal. between God and man. Man is unable to do this. I am unable to do, verse 13,
fear God, keep His commandments. I can't do it. I've tried. I spent 40 years trying. and
came up empty all the way until I found out that somebody had
already taken care of the fear of God because He died in my
place and cried out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
me? Jesus Christ took my place on
the cross. He took all that fear upon Himself,
and now perfect love casts out fear. I cannot keep His commandments. I have tried. Sometimes I resurrect
that old law and that old body. And sometimes I try to keep the
commandments and wonder why I can't do right. And wonder how God
might feel about me. The fact is that God has kept
all those commandments in Jesus Christ. I am not responsible
for those. He died for those. He gave His
life for that. And then He looks at me and says,
there's no condemnation. to them that are in Christ Jesus.
I confess, I can't do this. My parents can't do it for me.
My friends can't do it for me. My pastor can't do it for me.
My church can't do it for me. No one can cause me to do this
thing. I can't do this. But Jesus Christ
did and calls and says, come unto me, all you that labor and
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I confess that Jesus
Christ did it all for me. That's my hope. That's your hope. If you are alert, if you're able,
if you have a soundness of mind, that's your hope. Jesus Christ
is your only hope. If the Lord, through his word,
has caused you to see the truth of the gospel and the truth of
our creator while you're able, Bow to His sovereign love. Call on your Creator for mercy. Our Heavenly Father, a lot of
these things that were said this morning are the words of a man.
But we read the Scripture, we showed the truth, and they are
the words of God. I pray, Father, that you would
apply the words of your words to those that such as should
be saved, and to those who are saved, that we might remember
now our Creator in the days of our youth. In Jesus' name we
pray. Amen.