Life is Short and Then You Die

Ecclesiastes chapter 11. That's in the Old Testament,

Ecclesiastes 11 · chapter mention

Ecclesiastes. If you can find Psalms and Proverbs,

just keep on turning a little further past that

and you will come across Ecclesiastes chapter

Ecclesiastes 11 · chapter mention

11. We're going to start in verse 9. We'll read

that and pray, but we're going to dip on over

into Ecclesiastes 12. as well. Ecclesiastes chapter

Ecclesiastes 11:9

11 verse 9 We'll read through this verse, then

we'll pray. Rejoice, young man, while you are

young. And let your heart be glad in the days

of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart

and in the sight of your eyes. But know that

for all of these things, God will bring you to

judgment. Let's pray. God, we come to you. We

thank you for your good word. And I pray, God,

that in these few moments that you would help

us to be free of the distractions and the worries

of the world. I pray that your Holy Spirit would

be with us this morning, that we would hear from

you, that you would meet us where we are. You

know what our struggles are and our sins are

and our worries are and our pains are, and I

pray, God, that we would just bring those before

you this morning. I pray, God, that you would

be with me, that I would preach and teach in

a way that brings glory and honor to you, God.

There are no words that I can say that are any

good if they do not come from you. So I pray

that you take away any pride or fear that is

within me and let your Holy Spirit lead us this

morning. All for your kingdom and all for your

glory. In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen. If you've

never read the book of Ecclesiastes, I would

encourage you to do it. Be prepared, though.

It doesn't really read like a lot of the other

books in Scripture. And it can seem... Quite

depressing as you read through the book because

what the author of Ecclesiastes, probably Solomon,

points out is really there's not a whole lot

in this life that matters. Everything we do is

vanity is a phrase that we see often in the book

of Ecclesiastes. It's all vanity. It's all worthless.

It's all useless in some sense. We work hard

and we... build up a bunch of wealth or we obtain

a lot of land or we buy a nice home or or whatever

it is not not necessarily that all those things

are bad some things are some things aren't but

at the end of the day everything's going to be

gone we're going to be gone everything we have

is going to be gone and what's the purpose of

life that's kind of the That's kind of the idea

here. Is there something more than what we see

with just all of the materialistic and the worldly

things that we see? Well, by the end of the book,

we do see his main point at the end of chapter

12. And that is when all is said and done, we

are called to fear God. and keep his commands.

That's ultimately what matters. That's ultimately

what the book of Ecclesiastes is leading us to.

And you're saying, well, good, I don't have to

read it now. You just told me the whole book

in about two minutes. But you need to read it

because you'll probably relate with a lot of

those things. You'll probably relate with a lot

of the difficulties about how hard life is and

how frustrating it is and how sometimes you just

want to give up. But we have to remember as we

go through this life is that there's... More

to it maybe than just what we see in a worldly

sense. That we serve a God who created us. And

that's who we need to remember and that's who

we need to focus on. And that's the point here

as we look at Ecclesiastes 11 and Ecclesiastes

12. He gives us a good command. He says rejoice

young man while you are young. Now how many in

here are young? What is young? I don't know what

young is. I guess it depends on who you ask.

It's all relative. Mr. Fred, he just turned 97

this week. I expect to him probably 75 seems

young. Those of you who are 75, you might think

60 seems young. And so it goes down the list.

But what's the call right here for us? He says

rejoice, young man, while you are young. Now

why is that? Well, the fact is real simple. As

you get older, there are just things that you

can't do that you used to do when you were young.

It's going to happen. Now, I'm only 42. I think

that that's young. But there are some things

that I do now that used to not bother me, and

now they do bother me. Now, I don't run very

much these days, but I used to run when I was

younger. And now when I try to run, I run like

an old man. And somehow, between like... 35,

which was probably the last time I ran any decent

amount of time. And 42, it's like I've forgotten

how to run. You know, here's something else.

When you're young, y 'all don't even appreciate

this yet. When you're young, you can just get

up and go do what you want to do. If you want

to get up and go play baseball, football, basketball,

whatever, you ain't even got to stretch. You

can just jump out of the bed in the morning and

you can go. And you're not going to pull nothing.

But you try that when you turn 40. If you don't

stretch, you're going to be in trouble. That's

just part of it. You've got to stretch a little

bit. And so while we are young, we have a lot

more ability to do things. Our eyesight is good.

We can hear better. We're stronger. Our balance

is good. All of these things go as we begin to

get older. Those things begin to go, and they

begin to go quickly. And so what does he say?

His point is... I'll sum it up as we get into

it, is that life is short. Life is short, and

you're only going to have a limited amount of

time that you're really going to be able to do

things. At some point, you're not going to be

able to do the things you used to do. So what

does he say? He says, Rejoice, young man, while

you are young, and let your heart be glad in

the days of your youth, and walk in the ways

of your heart and in the sight of your eyes.

Okay, we need to be glad in the days of our youth.

Now, a lot of times we're not glad in the days

of our youth because there's a lot of things

we can do in our youth that we're not glad about.

I'll give you an example. Yesterday, beautiful.

I love the fall. I don't want to do anything

in the summer. I hate the summer. It's my least

favorite time of year, but I love the fall. Boy,

it's cool because it's all kind of yard work

and stuff that I like to do, and I like to do

it when it's cool. And so I got out there yesterday

morning, and weeding is not as bad when it's

cool. it's still bad but it ain't as bad i get

out there and you weed eat and you gotta you

gotta trim your shrubs back and i cut grass all

day yesterday from 8 30 till about 4 30. i cut

grass a lot of grass just cut grass and cut grass

and cut grass and i had to pick up limbs and

some big limbs and big pieces of trees that had

fell and i had to cut limbs and i had to pile

limbs up and i had to do all this stuff and we

may be tempted when we're younger to complain

about that I don't want to do all that. I'm tired

of cutting grass. I'm tired of picking up limbs.

I'm tired of cleaning the house. I'm tired of

washing clothes. I'm tired of washing dishes.

But there's a lot of people that as they've gotten

older, guess what they do every day? They lay

in the bed. They sit in their chair. And you

know what they do? They look outside and they

say, boy, I wish I could get out there and work

in the yard. So we need to think about that before

we complain. Now, I understand it's hard work.

I understand. But we need to realize that in

some way that hard work is a blessing. That I

can be able to go out there and pick up those

limbs. I don't enjoy it. That's not my favorite

thing to do. Like I don't just say every week,

man, Lord, please blow a good wind because I

want to pick up some more limbs. I don't enjoy

it that much. But there needs to be some enjoyment.

When we're having to work hard and we're having

to really put in overtime. That we're having

to make that extra money so we can pay our bills.

So we can put shoes on our kids' feet. And it's

hard work. And you sacrifice sleep. All of those

things are tough. But you need to rejoice in

those things. That you've got a kid you can provide

for. And a wife you can take care of. And a husband

you can be there for. It's not always easy, and

sometimes we complain about these things, but

maybe there is some rejoicing that needs to take

place. Maybe he's not just saying rejoice that

you can play football without stretching and

pulling a hamstring. Maybe he's saying enjoy

some of the things that we don't enjoy. Realize

that one day you're not going to be able to do

these things. One day you're not even going to

be able to dress yourself. One day you're not

going to be able to make it to the bathroom on

time. These things are coming for us. We need

to rejoice in the things that we're able to do

while we're young. Even the things that we may

not realize are good now, they are better than

we think. And so the author of Ecclesiastes says,

look, life is short. That's the title of this

sermon. Life is short and then you die. You say,

boy, that's kind of depressing. Well, that's

kind of the book of Ecclesiastes. That's kind

of life. I hate to break it to you. If you come

in here today and you didn't know that, That's

life, okay? So what are you going to do in that

time period? Life is short. One day you're going

to die. So what are you going to do? The author

of Ecclesiastes says make the most of it. He

says, and walk in the ways of your heart and

in the sight of your eyes. Now we've got to be

careful with that right there. What I don't think

he's saying is that's a blank check to do what

you want. Look, you're young. You only live once.

You're going to die. So go out whatever your

eyes see that you just go do what your heart

desires. I know that's what it says, but we got

to be careful how we take that. Because I don't

think what he's saying is just go party and throw

caution to the wind and not care about anything

else in the world other than what you want. I

don't think that that's what he's saying there.

I think that there are some things in life that

really matter, that are important. And we need

to understand what those things are. And when

our mind is right and when our heart is right

and when we are seeking God, our desires change.

Now when we live for ourself and we live for

the world, there are certain worldly things we

desire. But we don't want to follow after those

desires of the world. If we only took this one

little verse out of context, then maybe you could

make the argument that it says, YOLO, you only

live once, do what you want to do. But we have

to look at passages like these in light of all

the other scripture. And certainly that's not

the message of all of Scripture, is do what you

want to do. We're called to serve God. We're

called to live in obedience to Him. When we live

for ourself, then we have a certain set of desires

and things that our eyes see that we long for.

But there's something that happens in our life

once we begin to trust in the Lord. Once we begin

to put our faith in God, guess what? Our desires

change. The things that our eyes used to be drawn

to are not appealing to us anymore. And so we

do want to follow the desires of our heart and

the desires of our eyes, but if those desires

aren't founded on God and his word and his instruction,

then we're going to get ourselves in trouble.

I do think throughout the book of Ecclesiastes,

the author is telling us, look, you need to enjoy

life, not in a wild and crazy and sinful way.

But God has been good to us and he's blessed

us with a beautiful world. And I think it's okay

to enjoy that. I think God wants us to enjoy

this world and enjoy the people of this world

and enjoy the nature of this world. To go to

the lake. To sit on the cabin in the mountains

and look at the beauty of God and just reflect

in nature and enjoy the things that he blesses

you with and enjoy your family and enjoy your

church. And there are beautiful things that God

gives us. And I believe that God wants us to

have enjoyment in this life. It's pretty tough

when we don't have enjoyment. It's pretty tough

in seasons of difficulty. And sometimes we have

those seasons in life. They may last a week or

a month or... Maybe even a year or maybe longer.

Sometimes there's seasons where there's not too

much enjoyment. Or there's things that are really

tough and there's seasons that are really hard.

But when we can, when we're able to, we need

to enjoy the beauty of what God has blessed us

with. And we need to rejoice in it while we are

still young. Because one day, we're not going

to be young anymore. So he says, look. Go after

the desires of the heart, the thing that your

eyes see, the good things, not the sinful things.

And here's what we need to pay attention to.

But know that for all these things, God will

bring you to judgment. Now here's the good news.

We are free to do whatever we want to do. God

gives us free will. Praise the Lord. He does

not force us to do a single thing. You weren't

forced to come to this church today. You chose

to come. Well, I say that. Hopefully none of

you were forced to come. Hopefully you all come

with your free will. But we have free will to

do what we want. If you want to lie, cheat, and

steal, you've got free will to do that. If that's

what you want to do, you have the ability to

do that. If you want to help people and love

people and be gracious to people and meet the

needs of others, you're free to do that. You

can do whatever you choose to do. I can't make

you do anything. I guess the Lord could, but

he does not. He chooses to allow us to make our

own choices. You can do what you want to do,

but know this. Whatever you do, one day you're

going to stand before the Lord. But know that

in all these things, God will bring you to judgment.

Now that should impact our choices that we make.

You're free to choose anything. But you need

to know if you choose the wrong things that you're

going to have to answer to God for that one day.

And that should grab a hold of us. That should

get our attention. Perhaps this verse should

be a verse that we need to ask God to bring to

our minds as we are making decisions in our daily

life. And the things that we're about to say,

the words that are about to come out of our mouth,

maybe we need to think about this verse. Okay.

I can say whatever I want to say to this person.

But just know the words that are coming out of

my mouth. I'm going to have to answer to God

for those words. Maybe we'd think twice before

we said the things that we say or do the things

that we do. Knowing that I can do this thing.

I can punch this guy in the nose right now. He

said something to me. I didn't like I can bust

him in the nose. I can beat him down. I can do

that right now. But one day I'm going to have

to stand before God. That should guide our decisions.

That should help us to think twice before we

do what we want to do. So we follow the desires

of our heart. But you better be careful what

desires that you follow. For one day you will

have to stand in judgment before God. He continues

on in verse 10. Remove sorrow from your heart

and put away pain from your flesh. Because youth

and the prime of life are fleeting. That's kind

of an encouraging verse, right? Life is tough,

life is sad, life is hard. But what does he say?

Remove sorrow from your heart and put away pain

from your flesh. Because you're young. You've

got to live, you've got to go, you've got to

do while you're able to do. You don't have time

to lay around and feel sorry for yourself. You

have to get up and you have to keep going and

life goes on. Don't be depressed. You're young.

Life is short. You've got to make the most of

the time that you have. Because one day you're

going to wake up and you're going to be old.

It is unbelievable how fast life goes. When you're

young, you don't realize it. When you're young,

life goes so slow. And I'm still not terribly

old, but even at 42, you look back one day and

you say, where have the years gone? It just doesn't

seem right. I see parents sometimes with small

children and I'll hear them tell other, or grown

children, I'll hear them tell other parents with

small children, hey, you better cherish these

moments because they're in kindergarten today

and they'll be in college tomorrow. It goes so

quickly. Everything in life goes so quickly.

And you don't realize that when you're younger,

but that's why we need books like Ecclesiastes

to call this to our attention. That life is short.

You got to make decisions and you got to make

memories and you got to live for people and love

people and help people and make an impact for

the kingdom of God while you can. Because you

don't have forever. One day you're not going

to be able to get up and go and do what you want

to do. Praise the Lord, every one of you can

today. Every one of you was able to get here

today, praise the Lord, so we can still get up

and do a little bit. Not as much maybe as you

want to. Maybe not as much as you could do five

years ago. But we've got to make the most of

the time that the Lord gives us. Now flip over

to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. I love this section

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

of Scripture. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. We'll

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

start in verse 1. This is another call to the

young person. He says in Ecclesiastes 12, verse

Ecclesiastes 12:1

1, So remember your Creator in the days of your

youth, before the days of adversity come, and

the years approach when you will say, I have

no delight in them. All right, this is a good

command for us, that we need to learn who God

is, that we need to know who God is. That God

is the creator of the heavens and the earth.

That God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ.

That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish

but have everlasting life. That our sins are

forgiven through Jesus Christ. That he was nailed

to a cross. That he was raised from the grave.

And by the price that he's paid, we can be healed

through Jesus Christ. The author of Ecclesiastes,

you need to know who God is when you're young.

You need to learn who God is. You need to know

the commands of God, the word of God, the instructions

of God. You need to trust in God and you need

to follow God. He needs to be your foundation

and he needs to be your strength. Why? Because

one day life's going to get tough. And when life

gets tough, who are you going to call on? And

praise the Lord if we follow. the Lord from a

youth and we're growing in him and seeking him

and looking at his word, then praise the Lord.

That's going to be our foundation. That's going

to be who we call to and who we hold on to and

who we pray to and who we seek in our times of

trouble. But if you don't know the Lord, who

are you going to seek? What are you going to

seek? Well, whatever it is, it's not going to

be able to give you the strength that you need.

Only the Lord can do that. I can guarantee you.

Only the Lord can give you the strength you need

today to get through what you're going through

today and what you'll go through in the future.

And the quicker we learn that, the better off

we're going to be. So remember the Creator in

the days of your youth. The quicker you learn

who God is and trust Him, the better you'll be.

And why? He says before the days of adversity

come. Days of adversity are coming. We face them

all the time. We face them when we're young.

We face them when we're old. Now, in the context

here, he's talking about old age. That's what

he's talking about. He's talking about here's

some advice to the young man because one day

days of adversity are going to come. That is,

you're going to get old, and when you get old,

life's going to be a lot harder than it is right

now. And the years approach when you will say,

I have no delight in them. Boy, that's a... That's

kind of a scary thing to think about, but it's

true. We all know it's true. Sadly, we have friends

and family. If you don't believe that those words

are true, then after service today, you need

to go over to any nursing home of your choice

and you need to walk down those halls and you

need to look at all those people. So many of

them in the bed can't move. Some of them can't

communicate. Some of them don't know who they

are. Where they're at, what's going on in the

world. I believe that those people would probably

say if they could communicate that they are living

in days that they have no delight in them. I

go see people sometimes, people in no shape.

It's not uncommon to hear older people say, I'm

just ready to go. I'm ready to go. Why? Because

they are saying exactly what this verse is saying.

They've got to a point in life where they have

no delight in their days. They had delight in

their days when they were younger, when they

could go and do and work and raise a family and

things were good. But as you get older, you can't

do those things. You have to depend on other

people. You become a bother or a burden. Those

are the biggest two words I usually hear from

older folks. I wish the Lord would take me home.

I'm just a bother to everybody. I'm a burden

to everybody. And do you know why they say that?

Because as we get older, we can't do the things

that we used to do. So we need to think twice

before we complain. We need to rejoice in the

days of our youth. Because one day, Should the

Lord permit, we're going to live long enough

that we're not going to be able to do those things.

It continues on in verse 2. Before the sun and

the light are darkened, and the moon and the

stars and the clouds return after the rain. Now

he's using a lot of symbolism here, a lot of

imagery to get his point across. Now as we read

these next few verses, What he's really talking

about is the decline of our bodies in old age.

But he uses different language to describe things

that we'll talk about. But here we see a good

example. The days are darkened, right? Days that

are bright and sunny are usually a lot happier

days for you than days that are dark. When it's

dark and it's cloudy and it's gloomy, that makes

you feel more depressed, even when you're young.

And especially maybe as we get older, those dark

days. That's the illustration. That's the symbolism

here. We understand what it means during dark

days. And as we get older, he says there's going

to be dark days. What's the best part about rain?

It's dark, it's cloudy, it's windy, it's stormy.

But at some point, the clouds clear and the storm

passes and the sun comes out. But he's saying

that as we approach our old age, that the clouds

return after the rain. No sooner than you get

through one dark day, it seems like there's one

dark day after another after another as we begin

to grow old. We have a lot more dark days than

we do bright days. He says in verse 3, On that

day when the guardians of the house tremble and

the strong men stoop. Now what's he talking about

here? The guardians of the house and the strong

men stoop. He's using symbolic language. He's

talking about our arms, our strength, the guardians

of the house. It's our arms that's been able

to protect us and provide for us so that we can

work hard and our strength begins to fail. The

strong men stoop. Our backs begin to give out.

Our legs begin to give out. We don't walk straight.

When you're young, you can walk straight with

your shoulders up. You watch some older people.

We don't have any in here, so don't look when

we leave today. But you watch some older people

when they get up and start walking. They kind

of stoop a little bit, right? We don't have the

strength we used to have. We can't stand up straight

like we used to. And that's what the author of

Ecclesiastes is pointing out. The women who grind

because they are few. Now, what's he talking

about there? Women who grind. He's talking about

our teeth. When we're young, we got teeth. We

can chew. We can eat. What happens as we get

older? Our teeth fall out. Now, praise the Lord,

modern technology, we can get new teeth. I don't

know if they could get new teeth back when he

wrote this. As we get older, our teeth begin

to fall out. The ones who watch through the windows

see dimly. What about our eyesight? Everything

seems a little dimmer in my eyes as I get a little

older. Anybody else ever experienced that before?

A few years ago, it could be almost pitch black

dark and I could read. Not anymore. I got this

thing that I'm reading this iPad. It's bright.

I got it bright because I can't see it if I don't.

Even with this light over me. Because everything's

a little dimmer. Everything that I see is a little

dimmer. And that's what he's talking about. Our

strength begins to go. Our teeth fall out. Our

eyes begin to grow dim. We can't see as good

as we used to. Verse 4. The doors at the street

are shut while the sound of the mill fades. Anybody

in here can't hear as good as you used to? Some

of you say, huh? Yeah, it's a lot of you out

there that's got hearing aids. Why? Because your

doors of the street, your ears are shut. The

sound of the meal fades. Things that used to

be loud that you could hear from a long way away,

now you can't hear anything. You can't even hear

your wife and she's sitting in the recliner next

to you. Or maybe you can. You just pretend like

you can. I don't know. But this is part of life.

It's not a fun part of life. Nobody likes to

lose their strength. Nobody likes to lose their

teeth. Nobody likes to not be able to see and

to be able to hear. But it's life. It's coming.

It's coming to all of us sooner or later if we

live long enough. When one rises at the sound

of a bird, it's hard to sleep when you get older.

The least little thing wakes you up. You just

can't rest as good as you used to rest. Sleep's

not as good as it used to be. The least little

thing will wake you up. And the daughters of

song grow faint. Same idea. Hear as good as you

used to. All the beautiful songs and the things

you used to hear, those things begin to grow

faint in your life. Also, verse 5, also they

are afraid of heights and dangers on the road.

Well, that happens, right? It should happen more

than it does. There's some people, they're 100

years old. They're out there. They can't see.

They can't hear. They can't do nothing. They're

just going full speed ahead. They say, I can

drive as good as I always could. And they were

running over stuff. I remember my grandma, one

day we were at the hospital with somebody, and

she had drove over there. She'd come up in the

room. She was like, well, I hit a truck in the

parking lot. And I was like, what? We were looking

at her. She was like, yeah, it's fine. I looked

at it. It wasn't no problem. Everything's fine.

I was like, you hit a truck? Yeah. She was probably

in her 80s at this point. Shouldn't have been

driving. So I said, we've got to go down there

and see what's going on. I went down there. She's

like, I barely touched it. It wasn't enough to

do nothing. So I go down there. I find her car.

There's no truck beside her car. They'd already

left just in that five minutes it took me to

get there. The front bumper of her car, the front

fender of her car, was, I'm talking about, all

caved in with green paint all down it. I barely

touched it. As we get older, we can't see as

good as we used to. We can't drive as good as

we used to. For the wiser ones, they realize

that, and they turn the keys over. For the unwise

ones, they argue about it, and the kids have

to take the keys, and it turns into a horrible

situation. But oftentimes you see, and probably

some of you experience this, you can't see good.

You can't drive good. First thing that happens,

you don't drive at night. Quit driving at night.

Why? Because we're afraid of the heights and

the dangers of the road. We know that we just

can't get around as good as we used to. The author

of Ecclesiastes points out a truth that we're

all familiar with. The almond tree blossoms.

Has anybody ever seen an almond tree blossom

before? You know what color it is? It's kind

of a white color. Anybody in here got any white

hair? Yep. That's right. The almond tree blossoms.

We get old. Our hair begins to turn white, and

our beards begin to turn gray and begin to turn

white. I was in the store the other day, and

I walked by a dude, and I was looking at something,

and he was looking at something, and then a second

later, he turned to me, and he says, Oh, I didn't

recognize that was you, Shannon. He said, I didn't

know you had that much white in your beard. All

right. Nice to see you, too. It happens, right?

We begin to get white as we get older. The grasshopper

loses its spring. Well, you see a grasshopper,

what? They get their legs the way they spring

up. They can fly a long way. And that's how we

can do them when we're young. We can spring up.

When you're young, you can get on the floor and

you can spring up. When you get old, you can't

do that so much. I get on the floor just about

every night and play with our puppy. And some

nights I don't get up as fast as I used to get

up. I'll turn the wrong way and be like, oh,

got something in my knee or in my side. Used

to, you could just spring up. When you're young,

your legs work good. You can spring up, you can

go, and you can do. But when you get old, he

says, the grasshopper loses his spring. The caperberry

has no effect. Now, caperberry is used, it's

like medicine. It's used for a lot of medical

purposes. At some point, even the medicines don't

help. Some of you take 15, 20 pills a day. You

still feel bad. And you say, I just don't know

what's wrong. I've got to find a new doctor.

I just don't know what's wrong. I know what's

wrong. You're over 80 years old. I know you don't

want to hear it, and I'm sorry. But the book

of Ecclesiastes tells us this way back then that

as we get older, even the medicines ain't going

to help. For man is headed to his eternal home.

He says when you start seeing these things, when

your eyes ain't working and your ears ain't working

and you got no teeth and your hair is white and

you can barely get up and move and your medicines

don't help and you still feel bad, he says man

is headed to his eternal home. Life is coming

to a close. Maybe it's a few weeks, maybe it's

a few years. But at some point in our life, these

bodies, as they begin to fail, we're going to

go. To our eternal home. Now what that eternal

home is. Well that's up to you. That's up to

you. The choices you make. Did you choose Jesus

Christ? Did you reject Jesus Christ? All those

things that he said. Follow the desires of your

heart. And the things that your eyes see. But

know that in all these things you'll stand in

judgment before God. He's talking to the young

people. He's saying, pay attention young people.

Pay attention. You can go and you can do and

you rejoice in that. But you better make good

choices in what you do. And you better know God.

And you better come to know Him and trust Him

while you're still young. Because one day here's

what's going to happen. And He goes through and

He tells us all the things. You're going to get

old and here's all the things that's going to

happen. And then you're going to die. Life is

short and then you die. And then you're going

to an eternal hole. You're either going to spend

an eternity with God or you're going to spend

an eternity in hell. One day, this life's coming

to an end. He says in the next verse, verse 6,

before the silver cord is snapped and the gold

bowl is broken. Now this is probably a reference

to, the spinal cord and the brain. It's hard

to know exactly what these are. Those are the

two most popular thoughts as to what he's speaking

of here. And the jar is shattered at the spring

and the wheel is broken into the well. Probably

talking about our heart. Our heart beginning

to fail. That's the wheel that spins the spring

that puts our blood all the way through us. Eventually

all of our body is going to shut down. Our brains

are going to shut down. Our hearts are going

to shut down. And then he says in verse 7, And

the dust returns to the earth as it once was,

and the spirit returns to God who gave it. One

day every single one of us is going to die. If

Jesus does not return, We're going to die. Life

is so short, men and women and children. Life

is so short. If you don't believe me, if you

don't believe that coming from a 42 -year -old,

you find you somebody that's lived into their

80s and their 90s, if you can find somebody 100,

and I want you to ask them if life is short or

not. Life is so short. What kind of decisions

are you making? Are you taking care of your wife?

Are you taking care of your husband? Are you

taking care of your kids? Are you helping people

around you that you can help? Are you being a

light to the world? Are you trusting in the Lord?

Do you know who God is? Have you trusted in the

creator of the heavens and the earth? Is he your

foundation? Is he your strength? Have you trusted

in Jesus Christ? Do you know that your sins are

forgiven today? Do you know that God loves you?

Do you know that there are dark days ahead, but

we serve a God who can strengthen you and be

with you? Even if you make it to 100 years old

and the days are dark and your body is shut down,

did you know that God still cares for you? That

He has not left you? and that one day this old

world's going to come to an end, and when it

does, God's going to take you home to be with

him if you've trusted in Jesus Christ. There's

a lot of things that we do and that we waste

our time on that don't amount to a hill of beans,

that ain't going to make any difference in this

world. The author of Ecclesiastes says we need

to do things that will. Make a difference. And

you need to do them while you can. Because one

day you will not be able to. So rejoice in the

Lord while you are still young. Next time you

want to complain about something you're able

to do. Maybe you need to think twice. Maybe while

you're doing something that you would rather

not do. And you rejoice in the Lord. Maybe you

think about a brother or sister in Christ. got

a home that's grown up with weeds or limbs that

need picking up and maybe their day has passed

and they're no longer able to do it. Well, rejoice,

man and woman in your youth. You can go help

them. Those are the things that make a difference.

That's what makes the world go round. Even those

who are older, they still have something to contribute

to society. They still... are important. They

still have wisdom that they can impart to those

of us who are young. Let us love those who are

older. Let us provide for those who are older.

Let us seek the wisdom of those who are older.

Rejoice, young man, while you are young because

one day every one of us will have to stand before

the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your

good word. I pray, God, that you would just help

us if we're younger to seek you and to try to

make the most of the days that you give us, God,

that we would rejoice in our strength and our

abilities and our blessings that you put before

us. I pray for those, God, who may be a little

older and maybe there is discouragement there

for not being able to do the things that they

once did. Maybe there's frustration and maybe

there's dark days and maybe there's sadness.

I pray that you would strengthen them today,

God. I pray that they would call out to you and

that they would seek you. God, that you would

be their strength until the day comes that you

would take them home, God. I pray that as your

people, that you would help us to take care of

those, dear Lord, who... who may not be able

to take care of themselves in the same way that

they once did, that we would use our strength

to strengthen them, and that, God, they would

use their wisdom to strengthen us. I thank you

for this church. I thank you for these folks

that are here, dear Lord. You know where everybody's

at today. You know their hearts. You know their

struggles. You know what's going on in their

life, and I pray, God, that if there's one here

today that does not know Jesus Christ, That maybe

today through your word, their eyes have been

opened. Maybe today they know that there are

some things in their life that should not be

there that they need to repent of, God. You call

us to repent, to turn away, to stop doing what

we've been doing, to ask you to forgive us, dear

Lord, to stop living for ourself and to start

living for you, God. I pray that if there are

any that came into this building today that do

not know Jesus Christ, that maybe the Holy Spirit

now is convicting them. And even now, God, that

they would pray to you and ask you to forgive

them, that they would follow Jesus Christ. God,

maybe there are some here today and they're yours,

but maybe they just see areas that they need

to do a little better. I pray that you would

help us to see those things and to grow in you,

dear Lord, that we would do the things that you

desire for us to do. And I ask these things in

Jesus' name. Amen.