REMEMBER NOW THY CREATOR

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: ECCLESIASTES 12:1-14




INTRODUCTION:


  1. The book of Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon (Eccl.1:1). Solomon also wrote the book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon.
  2. When Solomon was a young man, the LORD appeared to him in a dream at night, and God said to him, "Ask what I shall give thee" (I Kings 3:5). Solomon asked the LORD for wisdom, and the Bible says, "the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing" (I Kings 3:10).
  3. God made Solomon the wisest man on earth (I Kings 4:29-34).
  4. The word Ecclesiastes means "Preacher" (cf. 1:1). The key word in this book is "vanity" and it is found 37 times, first in 1:2 and last in 12:8.
  5. The key phrase is "under the sun," which occurs 29 times. People are always saying, "There is nothing new under the sun" and this expression comes from the book of Ecclesiastes.
  6. Solomon was the wisest man on earth but Solomon backslid and the words in Ecclesiastes prove that a life spent without God is a wasted life. Merrill Unger wrote that Solomon wrote this book in his later years after a lifelong search for the real meaning of life.
  7. I want for us today to focus on the final chapter, chapter 12.
  1. SERVE GOD WHILE YOU ARE YOUNG AND STRONG
    1. It is always best to make decisions for the Lord when you are young. It is not a pleasant subject to talk about but is a fact that as a person gets older his faculties, and mental and physical strength diminish (12:1,2). Here impending darkness and cloudiness signify old age.
    2. There is a song I am fond of. It goes like this:

Give of your best to the Master;
Give of the strength of your youth.

    1. That is what King Solomon is saying here in Eccl.12. He uses figurative language to describe old age:
    • "keepers of the house" (12:3) = arms and hands.
    • "strong men" (12:3) = legs.
    • "grinders" (12:3) = teeth.
    • "those that look out" (12:3) = eyes.
    • "the doors shall be shut" (12:4) = ears.
    • "he shall rise up at the voice of the bird" (12:4) = old folks wake up easy, sleeplessness.
    • "and all the daughters of music shall be brought low" (12:4) = cannot appreciate the singing and cannot sing very well.
    • "they shall be afraid of that which is high" (12:5) = older folks are scared of any height, and one of their chief fears is that they will fall. It is difficult for them to climb stairs.
    • "and the almond tree shall flourish" (12:5) = a blossoming almond tree is white on top; hair turns white.
    • "and the grasshopper shall be a burden" (12:5) = the grasshopper that drags itself along is a picture of the halting gait of the elderly who may have to use canes or walkers to move about.
    • "desire shall fail" (12:5) = romance is gone.
    • "because man goeth to his long home" (12:5) = eternity.
    • "silver cord be loosed" (12:6) = the spinal cord.
    • "golden bowl" (12:6) = the brain.
    • "the pitcher be broken" (12:6) = the lungs.
    • "the wheel broken at the cistern" (12:6) = the heart.
  1. SERVE GOD BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE (12:7).
    1. Our body is like an old tent (or tabernacle) that will soon be taken down and packed away (12:7; cf. II Cor.5:1-4). Then our spirit shall return to God who gave it (12:7; cf. 3:20; Gen.3:19).
    2. When President Adams was an old man, someone asked him how he was getting along. He answered: "Oh, I’m doing fine, but this house I live in is getting old, so I think I’ll be moving out soon." And sure enough, he did move out shortly after that and went to heaven.
    3. The apostle Paul wrote, "absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (II Cor.5:8).
    4. "The words of the wise are as goads" (12:11), i.e. sticks used to train cattle. The preacher uses them to prod the apathetic, and the sluggish, and the undisciplined into doing their work.
    5. These words of the wise are to be "as nails fastened" (12:11), i.e. firmly imbedded into the minds of the young students.
  1. SERVE GOD BECAUSE SOME DAY YOU WILL HAVE TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT (12:13,14).
    1. People today do not have a sense of duty (12:13). But you have a duty and it is to "fear God and keep His commandments" (12:13). This includes obeying your parents and teachers, doing your school work, etc.
    2. Some day you will have to stand before God and give an account. If you have done evil, God knows about (12:14).
    3. I asked one of our teenagers what he was going to preach at our New Year’s Eve service and he said he was thinking of "Giving an Account to God." This is a very important subject.

CONCLUSION:

  1. Solomon started off this chapter by saying, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth" (12:1). Why? There are many good reasons. Let me give you the most important: in the matter of salvation your chances of getting saved are much greater when you are young. Statistics show that more come to Christ when they are young.
  2. Secondly, in the matter of service you have more to offer God when you start serving Him at a young age.
  3. I am so happy to see our young people knock on doors and give out tracts; hear them give their testimonies, see them giving to missions, etc.
  4. Young people: are you serving God right now? Are you saved?


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