Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Good morning. I invite your attention to Ecclesiastes
chapter 12. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. We're going to just look at a
brief exposition of a passage here. And I'll just title the message
from the opening line in this chapter, Remember Now Thy Creator. Let's look at this passage and
I'll just expound it as we read through it line by line. Consider
that first word, remember. Remember here does not mean bring
the past to mind. Rather it means act properly
regarding the present. When I was a young lad in the
late 50s. I was raised in Rainiell, West
Virginia, Greenbrier County. My father was a pastor in a small
town and everyone knew my father. Most everyone knew that I was
his son. And I recall him on an occasion
taking me downtown to the G.C. Murphy store. It was the biggest
store in town and he gave to me some money and turned me loose. Told me I could buy whatever
I wanted and I was on my own. And then he said, remember whose
son you are. Well, I knew what he meant. It
was not as though I was gonna look over there and say, am I
this man's son? No, his son is Tom. Am I that
man's son? No, his son is Andy. Well now, whose son am I? I should
remember, that's not what it means here. It means act properly
regarding the present. And I knew what that meant. If
word got back to my father that I had misbehaved, I wouldn't
remember then whose father, you know, who was my father, whose
son I was. Well, we here are told to remember,
act properly regarding the present. It is not remember your father
in a way it is, I reckon, but it is remember your creator. Which leads us to acknowledge
that God does not believe in evolution. Men may do so, but
God does not. He says he is the creator. Remember
your creator. Remember who He is. And you better
act properly regarding Him. Consider, remember now, thy Creator. Tomorrow may be too late. You
may not have an opportunity tomorrow. Remember now, thy Creator. When is now? Well, the verse
says, in the days of thy youth. in the days of thy youth, that's
now. Now are the days of your youth.
And you may say, well, I'm an old man and I'm an old woman.
Yeah, but you're younger today than you will be tomorrow. And
tomorrow you'll look back and say, I was younger yesterday
than I am today. Remember, now, scriptures always
speak with regard to man's responsibility in the present tense now, now. Now is the accepted time. Now
is the day of salvation. So remember your creator right
now while you're young. You may not be able to do so
when you're older. I have sometimes spoken with
young people, teenagers, and I have told them that it would
be good for them to visit what we call an old folks home. And
young lady, when you go, just take a look at some old woman
there and just remember that when she was your age, she might
have been prettier than you. though you might not think so
now. Young man, just bear in mind that that old man you're
seeing, he just may have been more handsome than you, though
you may not think so by what you see now. But also notice
this, that some people there do not even know who they are.
It is impossible for them to remember their creator, impossible. So, do it now. Right now, if
you've never had before, now's the time. Before you are any
older. And while the evil days come
not. Yeah, that's when now is. While
the evil days come not. What are evil days? Well, we
divide our lifetimes into the good old days and these evil
days. These are evil days. Evil days. Why are they evil? Have you noticed,
I have noticed that the older I get, the longer a mile becomes. I used to walk a mile in a short
time. Now it takes a whole lot longer. I think they're making
miles longer in these evil days. And you know, and print, back
in the good old days, well you know, it was big. Now in these
evil days, you know, it's, I think they're making print smaller.
I sometimes wonder if it's a plot. And you know, hills have become
steeper. I think they're making hills
steeper nowadays than they did back in the good old days. These
are evil days. Old age is not for sissies. While the evil days come not,
nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure
in them. I have no pleasure in them. Some
old people, you may ask them what flavor of ice cream you
want. Doesn't matter, I can't taste it. I've lost my sense
of smell, I've lost my sense of taste. And these are evil
days. I have no pleasure in this or
that. The sense that I once had for
it, it's gone. Old age can be rough. Oh, you
better remember your creator while you still have the opportunity
to do so here in the days of your youth. Verse two, while the sun or the
light or the moon or the stars be not darkened. What becomes
darkened? Mental faculties. Yeah, you know
what I'm talking about, don't you, brother? Mental faculties. Do you remember that day about
20 years ago? No, because I do not remember
what I had for breakfast. You know, there's a darkening
of the mind. You better remember your creator
before those days come. A darkening of the mind. Nor
the clouds return after the rain, Solomon continues. Yeah, that's
old age. Let's see, old age, that's the
day when you have the infirmity of the week. Today I have this. Last week
I had that. The week before I had, yes, I
remember what I had, and it is as though we're enduring the storm of the
day with an infirmity or an ailment, and it goes away, and here comes
the cloud of another. I just got over that storm, and
here's another one coming. I finally get over it, and here
come the clouds again. Wow, you know, when we were young,
there were cloudless days, cloudless weeks, and cloudless months,
but yeah, things are a little bit different now in old age.
One storm comes after the other has gone in rapid succession.
Verse three, in the day when the keepers of the house shall
tremble, that's your arms and your hands, you'll see many an
old person beginning to have the tremble in the hand and the
tremble in the arm. Remember your creator before
that day comes. Before that day comes. And the strong men all bow themselves. The strong men, your legs and
your backbone. In the day when there's a stoop
in the walk and a stoop in the stature, that's an evil day. We used to stand up tall and
erect and now we're short and stooped. In the day when The
strong men bowed themselves and the grinder seized because they
are few. What are the grinders? That'll
be the teeth. You want a steak? Nope, can't chew it. Grinders
are gone. Grinders are gone. In the day when the grinder seized
because they are few, But I'll take some of that baby food if
you got plenty of it. I can take that rather well. And those that look out of the
windows be darkened. That's your eyes. Eyes. Got to be 40 years of age. And
I was 40 years of age when I went to an optometrist for the first
time and said, I'm having trouble reading print. And he did a test
and he said, you have presbyopia. Well, I had studied Greek and
I knew what that meant. Presbyopia means old man's eyes. Yeah, you know old man's eyes. All right, well, what's going
on here? It is because those that look
out of the windows be darkened. The vision is going. And the
door shall be shut in the streets when the sound of grinding is
low. Do not see this as much as we
did, those of us who remember being back in the 50s. But in
the day before, people who lost their teeth had dentures, you
know, and they had closed mouths like You may remember those,
it's hard to illustrate if you have teeth, but old people in
those days, what happened? Well, it's here described as
the day when the doors shall be shut in the streets when the
sound of the grinding is low. Loss of teeth results in closing
of mouth. and he shall rise up at the voice
of a bird. Now, I'm a very early riser.
I am usually up shortly after midnight, because I go to bed
early. And so, you know, shortly after midnight, I'm usually up.
My wife sleeps in until, you know, five, six o'clock. Except on an occasional morning,
she'll come walking into the room at 3 a.m. And when she does,
I tell her, They shall rise up at the voice of a bird. Did you
hear a bird? It does not have to be a rooster,
folks. It can be a robin. Over yonder, and you heard it,
and you heard it, and it awoke you. And all the daughters of
music shall be brought low, your singing voice, your hearing ear.
If you can sing well, enjoy it, because there coming a day when
your voice will not sound as pleasant as it does now. Now
remember your creator now, while you're young enough to do so,
while your voice is still pleasant enough to bring praise to him,
and also when they shall be afraid of that which is high. You ask an old person, you wanna
go with me to this place? Yeah, oh, do they have steps? Do I have to climb steps? Yeah,
I don't think I'll go. They should be afraid of that
which is high. And fears shall be in the way. The fear of tripping over something. You know, we old people, we watch
where we're walking a whole lot more carefully than young people
do because it does not take a log to trip us. A little stick or
a twig can do it. Fear shall be in the way and
the almond tree shall flourish. When the almond tree flourished,
it was solid white, beautiful. Imagine a dogwood tree with about
three times as many blooms. That's the almond tree. There's
gonna be a day that if you do not lose your hair, it's gonna
be white as the almond tree. It's gonna flourish. It's gonna
flourish. Now you better remember your
creator before that day comes. and the grasshopper shall be
a burden. My mother's 94 years old. I can remember when she
was a young woman, she could take a basket full of damp laundry
and carry it to the line and hang it on the line to dry. Now
she's 94 years old and she can hardly stand unless she's got
a walker. Put a grasshopper on her shoulder
and that would be heavy. That's what happens in old age. The grasshopper shall be a burden.
And desire shall fail. Desire for physical things, desire
for sensual things, desire is gone. Things that we desired
in our youth, they're gonna be gone one of these days. Remember
your creator before that day comes. Because man goeth to his
long home, his place in the next world. That's where he's going. And the mourners go about the
streets. Those are the people who grieve
when you're gone. One of these days, there's gonna
be a memorial service for you, a funeral service. And people
are gonna come and I heard your spouse die, I just wept, it grieved
me. And that's understandable. I am at the age where I read
obituaries every day. Didn't do that when I was young,
but to read obituaries and grieving over, I just lost another friend.
High school classmate, she's gone, she's gone. And we grieve
over the loss of our loved ones. And remember your creator before
that day comes. Forever, verse six, the silver
cord be loosed. The silver cord is the principle
of life sustaining your body. Oh, it's precious, it's silver,
it's a cord, it's strong. One of these days it'll snap.
The principle of life, the silver cord in your body is gonna snap. Or the golden bowl will be broken.
At the end of the silver cord is a golden bowl. Your body, and when this silver
cord is broken, the golden bowl breaks. and it's too late to
remember your creator then, so you better do it now. Better
do it now. Or the pitcher be broken at the
fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. The pitcher be
broken at the fountain. Pitcher would have been made
of a breakable material. It was not metal, probably a
crock or something, you know, made of something, you know,
like clay. And they were precious in those
days. And if it was broken, you're
getting no water. You're getting no water. And
the wheel broken at the cistern over the pump, you know, you
turn that wheel to bring the pitcher up from the bottom of
the well, it's broken. You're getting no more water.
You're getting no more water. You're living no longer. Remember
your creator before that day comes Then it's coming for every
one of us Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was
and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it The dust returned to the earth People generally have a high
opinion of themselves. Yeah, I'm somebody. I don't mean to disappoint, but
we're nothing but dirt. Dirt, dust. Out of what did God
make the first man? Some dust. Dust, took some dust
made a body out of it. Then he breathed into man's nostrils
and man became a living soul. All he is is just dust with the
breath of life in him. That's all he is. At best he's
just dust with the breath of life in him. There's coming a day when the
dust shall return to the earth as it was. and the spirit shall
return unto God who gave it. In that day when the silver cord
is loosed and when the gold and bold is broken, in that day when
the spirit returns to God who gave it, it was God who breathed
into man's nostrils and man became a living soul. It was God who
did so. It's God's breath. It's God's
air that you're breathing. And that spirit that is in you
belongs to God and he's gonna bring it back to himself for
judgment, for judgment. Now your body's gonna return
to the dust it came from. You don't wanna know what you're
gonna look like inside that casket in a couple of years. Doesn't
matter how much embalming fluid or whatever they put in. You're
gonna go back to what you came from. And it's just dust. Your body's gonna go back to
the dust whence it came, and your spirits, God's gonna call
it to himself. It's a summons. It is a summons. Such as one might receive to
go to court. You are summonsed to appear before
the majesty on high, and one day, Death is gonna come to you
and deliver the summons. You've been served. It's time
to go. And when that happens, the body
falls to the ground and returns to the dust whence it came and
the spirit is ushered into God's presence. He gave it. He gave it. This is the separation
of the physical and spiritual elements of man. And it's gonna
happen to you. And it's gonna happen a whole
lot sooner today than it was 10 years ago. Much sooner, how
soon? You came in that door but you're
not promised you're leaving. It could be before you leave.
It could be before this message is over. I would strongly urge you, remember
now your, I mean, right this very moment, remember now your
creator in the days of your youth. Evil days are coming. Do it now,
do it now. While you still have a sound
mind, do it right now. Remember now thy creator. We're going to skip a few verses.
Go down to verse number 13. Here, let us hear the conclusion
of the whole matter. Here's the epilogue for the entire
book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon has been saying, that
is vanity, that is vanity, that is vanity. Everything is vanity. And here is the conclusion of
the whole matter. Your youth is vanity. You're
gonna lose it. You better remember your creator
now. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Here is
the epilogue of this whole book of Ecclesiastes and it is fear
God. It's not dread. You don't need
to dread God. Now if you do not fear him now,
you will dread him. But this fear is reverence. Reverence Him. Oh, there's not
much of that going on in today's society, is there? Reverence
Him. Fear God. Reverence Him. Love Him. Worship Him. That's
your duty. And keep His commandments. What
are they? First of all, love Jehovah your
God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. And second,
love your neighbor as yourself. Those are the two great commandments.
There is no commandment greater than these, and on these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets, Jesus said. So keep his commandments, love
him supremely, and love your neighbor as yourself, for this
is the whole duty of man, and the whole duty of man is fulfilled
in this. Believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved. It's a duty. Believe. Jesus said
repent and believe the gospel. If he said it, it's a duty. He
says repent and believe the gospel. That's the whole duty of man.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. So, that's why we go around preaching
Christ. Men cannot believe in one of whom they've never heard. And God must send a preacher
if you're ever going to hear. Aren't you glad he sent a preacher
to you so that you could remember him in the days of your youth?
Well, if you never have done so, do so now. Because God has
put a preacher in front of you right now telling you this is
your duty to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be
saved. For God shall bring every work
into judgment. Yeah, you're gonna stand there
one of these days. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Jesus Christ that each one of us may be judged
according to the deeds we have done, whether good or bad. What
deeds? Did you remember your creator
in the days of your youth? I forgot. Then you're condemned.
You're condemned. God shall bring every work into
judgment with every secret thing. This thing's about me, I do not
want you to know. And this thing's about you, I
do not want to know. And God's going to expose them
all. You better hope you're ready in that day. Whether it is good
or bad or whether it is evil. What is the evil? Rejecting Christ
and not remembering him. Rejecting Christ, he is the creator. Remember your creator, the evil,
the worst evil you can do is reject him. What is the good? The good is obedience to Jesus
Christ. The best thing you can ever do
is to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I pray that if you
never have, you do so right now.