Remember Your Creator

[0:00] And I've entitled this morning's message, Remember Your Creator.! And it's based on Ecclesiastes 12, verses 1-8.

[0:10] So if you've not yet done so, please turn in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 12, verses 1-8. Our attention will be focused on those concluding verses in Ecclesiastes 12.

[0:29] And you would notice that we are obviously coming to the end of this sermon series in Ecclesiastes. We have one sermon, and then the series will be completed.

[0:42] So please follow along as I read. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth.

[0:53] Before the evil days come and the years draw near, of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them. Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain.

[1:13] In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors of the street are shut.

[1:33] When the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low, they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way.

[1:53] The almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets.

[2:09] Before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

[2:30] Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, all is vanity. Please bow in prayer with me. Father, we are so grateful this morning that we are able to gather in this place.

[2:47] We thank you for the ways that you have already spoken to our hearts, and we ask now that you would speak to us through your word. Lord, cause us to hear the words of this passage in a personal and a convicting way.

[3:08] I pray, Lord, that you would cause, in particular, those who have not yet obeyed the words of this passage, to hear the words of this passage, and then to obey what they say.

[3:30] Father, I ask for much grace to be poured out upon me as I seek to serve these who have gathered this morning. Lord, we recognize how much your help is needed, both to proclaim and both to hear your word.

[3:46] So, would you come now in this moment by the power of your spirit and aid us as we sit under the preaching of your word, we pray. In Jesus' name.

[3:57] Amen. Well, these words of the preacher before us are a further indication that he is concluding this book of Ecclesiastes.

[4:10] But you'd remember that I pointed out that the preacher did not start his conclusion in chapter 12. Instead, he started it in chapter 11. And what we see is in verses 1 through 6 of chapter 11, the preacher calls his audience to take risks and trust God.

[4:28] And then in verses 7 through 10, he calls for a sober enjoyment of life. And what we see is in verse 9, he adds this warning to this call to soberly enjoy life.

[4:43] He says, but know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment. Now, in verses 1 through 8 of chapter 12, the preacher offers some additional sobering words.

[4:59] And I believe if you've not seen it yet, you will soon see that these are more than just words. In these eight verses, the preacher issues a command.

[5:12] And the command is this. Remember your Creator while you still have time. Remember your Creator while you still have time.

[5:25] In other words, the preacher is, again, reminding his audience and us by extension, that while we live and enjoy this life, we must also remember God while we have the opportunity to do so.

[5:42] And in particular, he warns us to do so before we get old and before we die. Now, before we look closely at what the preacher says in these eight verses, I want to make two observations that I think would help us as we consider what he says.

[6:01] First of all, when the preacher refers to youth, when he refers to youth, both here in verse 1 of chapter 12 and also in verse 9 of chapter 11, he is not exclusively referring to a person who is young in age.

[6:18] He's not talking about those who we would consider to be young. And it changes from time to time because of immaturity.

[6:30] Youth is being extended way up. But generally speaking, we would, you know, tend to think of young people, maybe somebody from the age of being able to understand up to 25 or so.

[6:46] But the preacher is not so much referring to youth as we understand it. By youth, the preacher is actually referring to anyone who is not an elderly person whose health and days are declining.

[7:04] So this morning, if you're here and your health and days are not declining, it's a good sign. You're not bedridden. You're not confined to some other setting.

[7:16] If you have your mental faculties and you have strength in your body, then in a sense, and I think you will see this as we consider the passage, you'd be included in this range of what youth is for the preacher.

[7:34] So from the earliest years is when a child is able to understand up to the time that a person is in good physical and mental health, that would be the days of youth that the preacher here is referring to.

[7:52] Youth really is those who are able to live and enjoy life. Those who are able to engage life in its normal patterns. Those are the ones that the preacher is directing this command to.

[8:08] And then the second observation is to point out that although this text is eight verses long, it really is only two sentences. And actually, verses one through seven comprise one long sentence and verse eight comprises of one short sentence.

[8:33] And what we have in verses two through seven is the preacher using several metaphors, numerous metaphors to talk about aging and to talk about death.

[8:48] And I share this up front because I believe it will be helpful as we consider the passage and we are in advance alerted to what the preacher is doing. Well, this morning I have two very simple points.

[9:03] First, the command to remember our Creator. Look once again at verse one. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.

[9:17] Before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them. Here we see that the command to remember our Creator is connected to the warning that there are evil days coming and years approaching when we will say I have no pleasure in them.

[9:40] And the evil days and the years in which there is no pleasure are the season of old age and declining health which will eventually bring on death.

[9:51] life. So although this life is to be one of pleasure and although the preacher in chapter 11 was calling for a pursuit of the pleasures of life, he also points out, he says, things will not always be in such a way that you will find pleasure in life.

[10:13] It doesn't mean that the pleasures are gone, the pleasures are still there, but you will find no pleasure in them. These are the evil days, the days of difficulty, the days of calamity, the days of hardship.

[10:27] The preacher points that in the ensuing years, in the years of aging, they will increase. Those evil days will come and pleasure will be diminished.

[10:41] So the preacher is saying, remember your creator while you still can. notice starting in verse 2, the preacher describes old age and he uses different metaphors to paint a vivid picture for us.

[10:58] Now by way of reminder, a metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to something or to someone which is not literally the case. Now let's walk through the preacher's description of old age.

[11:14] I want to take a couple of minutes to do that. But on the front of it, I want to confess that we are so far removed from the time and the context and the culture of the preacher that we should be careful not to dogmatically say this is what the preacher is saying because there is this gap between culture and context that we don't have.

[11:40] So I will not in any dogmatic way say this is what he means, but hopefully we will get a general sense of the preacher describing the aging process in these metaphors.

[11:59] In verse 2, the preacher begins to talk about aging by using nature to describe it. He talks about the sun and the light and the moon and the stars being darkened and the clouds returning after the rain.

[12:17] And this is the picture of the light and vibrancy of youth having given way to the darkness and decline of old age. The clouds returning after the rain is likely a picture of ongoing gloominess that we associate with persistent rain showers.

[12:35] And the preacher is pointing to the gloom and the sorrows that accompany our bodies breaking down in old age. And then in verse 3, he is likening old age to a house that is decaying, a house that is falling apart.

[12:55] The term keepers of the house is likely referring to our hands that we use to care for our bodies and even protect our bodies. And here the preacher reminds us that as old age sets in, these hands that kept the house, they begin to tremble.

[13:15] And I think if all, if not most of us, have seen elderly people and how one of the realities of aging is that there is a lack of stability, there is some trembling that tends to be the lot of those who are growing old.

[13:36] the term strong men, the strong men, likely refers to our feet that hold up our bodies. And in old age, they curve and they bend and they are weak and they're not able to stand without the aid of a cane for more support.

[13:57] The term grinders, the grinders, likely refers to our teeth, which in old age fall out and our eating changes because our teeth are too few to chew our food.

[14:12] I know today that things are a little different. You can get dentures and other things. So people say, what were you talking about? I still have my teeth, the ones you bought. But the preacher is certainly talking about the natural teeth falling out, the grinders, and our eating changes because the teeth are too few to chew on.

[14:36] And you know, certainly by the grace of God, I have all my teeth right now. But I've heard people say, even those who have dentures, that your food is just not the same.

[14:46] You don't enjoy it as much as when you had your natural teeth. Notice how he likens our bodies to this house, where we reside on the inside of it, with our eyes we're able to see the outside, and so he talks about those who look through the windows that dimmed, likely referring to failing eyesight.

[15:14] That happens in the aging process. And then in verse four, the preacher shifts the plainer language to describe the realities of old age and declining health.

[15:28] The term, the doors to the street are shut like it refers to diminished activities of the aged. They don't get out as much.

[15:40] They don't get out to enjoy and engage life as they previously did. So in a sense, the doors to the street are shut to them from the hustle and the bustle of human activities that they used to participate in, but they no longer participate in.

[15:58] The sound of grinding is low likely refers to diminished hearing from aging. And the rising of the sound of a bird likely refers to the changes in sleep patterns that also accompanies aging.

[16:13] Interrupted sleep tends to be a part of the aging process. He refers to all the daughters of song. They are brought low.

[16:25] And this likely speaks to reduced interest in entertainment, which daughters of song in that day would have been one of the forms of entertainment.

[16:37] And then similarly in verse 5, the preacher further addresses the realities of aging, but now he does it in plain or plainer language. Being aware of their limited capacity, people who are aging tend to fear heights and other situations that in the past they were not fearful of.

[17:02] He refers to the almond tree blossoming, likely referring to the graying of hair. And again, that's kind of thrown off course in our day and time where there's dye, any color you want, you can put it in your hair and kind of camouflage the gray.

[17:21] And I'm looking at anybody right now, so you can't say that I'm addressing it to you. I've joked that if the dye company is dependent on me to make money, they'd all go out of business.

[17:36] I will not dye my hair. I guess a lot of people don't agree with that. But yeah, I mean, it's good to let the gray show because it's a sign, should be a sign of wisdom.

[17:53] But what we see here is old age brings increased immobility, slowness of movement. and this is what the grasshopper drags itself along is likely referring to.

[18:11] And then theologians who are much smarter than I say that desire fails speaks to a decrease in appetite because in the original language it says that the caper berry fails and the caper berry was a fruit that was used in that time to increase appetite.

[18:33] And so for the aged person, even as they take the caper berry fruit, it doesn't spark the appetite as it used to. The caper berry fails, so their desire fails, their appetite is reduced and I think we all know how as people age in particular as they're coming to the end, they just don't want to eat.

[18:54] And many of them refuse to eat and they have to be force-fed. But this is all a part of the aging process. And why does all this happen?

[19:05] Well, the preacher tells us in very plain language in verse 5, he says, because man is going to his eternal home and the mourners go about the street.

[19:16] man is going to his life. Now, whether you agree or not with the explanations that I try to draw out of these descriptions that the preacher has given in this passage, I think the conclusion helps us to see what he is describing.

[19:35] He's describing the aging process. He's describing the process of exiting this world. he says it in very plain language, man is going to his eternal home.

[19:54] And then the preacher goes on in verse 6, and he again reverts to poetry with vivid pictures, and he talks about the silver cord is snapped.

[20:07] It's a picture of something precious that's been broken, the golden bowl is broken, same picture, or the picture is shattered, the picture that used to hold water no longer holds that water of life.

[20:22] The wheel is broken at the system, so it can no longer be turned, so the water will come out of the system, it will yield no more water. He uses these pictures to communicate an end, a conclusion to life.

[20:44] And then finally in verse 7, we read his plainest words yet about death, words that some of us perhaps may have heard yesterday at a funeral service.

[20:59] He says, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

[21:10] And the preacher says, remember your creator before all this happens. Remember your creator before all this happens. Now, what does it mean to remember our creator?

[21:24] What is the preacher saying to us? Is he basically saying that, you know, we should kind of come to church and give God his dues kind of appease him some, have some kind of an indication that we are God-fearing people, we are people who go to church, and we are people who are close to God and the things of God.

[21:50] Is that what it means to remember our creator? No, it is not. But sadly, there are many today, and I think of our country in particular, we are for so many people.

[22:05] the God piece in their lives is more a cultural trapping. It is a cultural practice, it is the thing that we do to go to church on a Sunday or a Saturday.

[22:18] And we think that when we have done that, that God is pleased with us, because we have done our dues. We are better than our neighbors who are staying home and doing something else and not going to church.

[22:31] But friends, remembering our creator is so much more than this. It is so much more than this. To remember our creator is to come to the humble recognition that it is God who has created us and he's created us for himself and therefore we are to live for him and we are to serve him.

[22:54] When we remember God as creator, we humble ourselves before him and we remember that we are not our own but we are the Lord's.

[23:09] And so how arrogant it is and how proud it is for God's creatures to live as if he is not their creator, to live as if they created themselves or to live as if they owe their existence to something else or to someone else.

[23:25] The cold reality this morning in this room and everywhere in the world is there really only two groups of people.

[23:40] There are those who remember their creator and they live for him and they serve him and there are those who forget their creator and they live for themselves and they live to themselves by their own rules and by their own values and whatever they think is right.

[23:59] And so if you're not remembering your creator this morning by serving him and loving him then you are forgetting him. Instead of living for him you are rebelling against him.

[24:15] But the preacher says for all these things God will bring you into judgment. That's what he said. We consider that in the previous message in this series.

[24:32] And so this morning we all need to soberly consider whether we are remembering our creator or forgetting our creator. Are we remembering him as we live this life?

[24:46] Remembering that we do it not on our own terms. We do it not in a vacuum but we should do it in a conscious awareness that it is God who gave us breath and it is God who holds our breath and it is God who one day will take our breath.

[25:04] And it is God before whom we will stand and we will give an account for our brief lives. God and I wonder what is your honest assessment this morning?

[25:16] How are you living? Are you living remembering your creator or are you living even though you may not say so but you are forgetting your creator. Your back is turned to him and you are doing as you please when you please and for how long you please believing that you are the beginning and the end of all things but we are commanded to remember our creator.

[25:49] The preacher is not giving us good advice here. The preacher is not saying I suggest you do this. He is not saying do this for a better life. He is saying no remember your creator.

[25:59] It is a command. Remember your creator. Now why are we being commanded to remember our creator?

[26:14] Why are we commanded to do this? This brings you to my second and final point. The reason to remember our creator. And here I'm going to be brief.

[26:30] The reason that we are called to remember our creator can't be simply because we're going to get old and die. It's not the reason that we are called to remember our creator.

[26:45] Not just because we are going to get old and die. Everyone is going to get old and die unless the Lord return sooner. The person who remembers his creator is going to get old and die.

[26:58] The person who does not remember his creator is going to get old and die. So it is not simply because we will one day die that we're being called to remember our creator.

[27:13] You see there are some people who actually think that when we're dead we're done. It's the end of it. There's nothing after that.

[27:25] And if that were true then certainly the preacher didn't even have to warn about remembering your creator.

[27:38] Because if death ends at all and if there's nothing beyond death if there is no consequence in death for how we have lived our lives then why do we need to even give such a warning?

[27:54] Why do we even need to heed such a warning? For the reason that we are commanded to remember our creator is not because of death not because we are going to die but it is because of what happens after death.

[28:13] The reason we are called to remember our creator is because we are answerable to him. We are answerable to the one who gave us life and breath and opportunity.

[28:26] And it's quite interesting that as the preacher addresses it the preacher doesn't talk about where these spirits go. He simply says that the dust goes to the ground as it were and that our spirits or the breath of life goes back to God.

[28:44] The preacher warned us earlier in verse 9 of chapter 11 where he says but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

[28:57] So friends this morning it is because of a coming judgment. It is because of a coming day of accountability that we are caused to remember our creator because we are going to stand before that creator and we are going to give an account for this life that we have lived on this earth.

[29:19] That is why we need to remember him. That is why we need to heed him because he is the one we are going to stand before. I think our students would understand this.

[29:35] You don't listen to what the biology teacher is telling you to prepare for the chemistry exam or the English exam for that matter.

[29:46] You want to listen to what the teacher is saying who is going to test you on that particular subject and give you that particular exam. And the same is true with our creator.

[30:00] Our creator is patient. Our creator gives us this entire life. And really the point of this life, the bottom line of this life, is to prepare for that day when we will stand before him and we will be judged.

[30:22] The writer to the Hebrew says it plainly in Hebrews 9, 27, when he says, it is appointed unto man to die once. And after that comes the judgment.

[30:37] So friends, the reason that we need to heed the command to remember our creator before we die is not because of death, but because of the coming judgment.

[30:52] And we need to be certain of this. This is a cold reality. unless the Lord comes sooner, we will all die.

[31:04] But more importantly, we're going to all be judged. And that's true whether we die or not. If we happen to be alive when the Lord returns, and we don't experience death, we are still going to die.

[31:19] And the reason the preacher commands us to remember our creator in this life while we still have time, is because there's no time after death to do that.

[31:32] There's no opportunity after death to do that. The Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory is misleading and and it is harmful to those who believe it.

[31:44] The belief that only a few righteous people go to heaven and the bulk of us are going to go to some place called purgatory where the saints can pray over many many centuries centuries and they can pray us out and pray us into heaven.

[32:03] It's a false doctrine and it is not supported by scripture. It is causing many to neglect remembering their creator while they stood up time because they have bought the lie that they can be prayed out of purgatory and prayed into heaven.

[32:20] No, the preacher says, remember your creator while you still have time. And about young people, and now I'm speaking about young in the sense of age and being young in age.

[32:39] Many of our young people are bought into the lie that they're going to serve the Lord when they get older. They're going to have fun when they're young, but when they get old, they're going to get serious and they're going to serve the Lord.

[32:56] But the preacher says to us, it's harder when you get older. The preacher says there are evil days that are going to come. And evil doesn't mean in terms of moral evil.

[33:09] It means days of difficulty, days of challenge, days of hardship, living in a fallen world. And as these challenges set in, it is less likely that we are going to remember our creator.

[33:22] He becomes the furthest thing from our minds as we go through life. Some even have this notion that on their death bed, they were just going to say, oh Lord, forgive me.

[33:36] And that is so presumptuous because you don't know that you would have that opportunity. You don't know if your death will be sudden. And I can tell you having stood at the bedside of people who I believe were unbelievers as they passed, the furthest thing from their mind is God in that moment of death.

[34:04] I vividly recall one particular incident where this individual was dying from all accounts was not a believer.

[34:18] God was not on his lips. He wasn't crying out for God, he was crying out for many other things, but not crying out for God. I remember a number of years ago, I was at a conference and the person who was leading the meeting at that particular time was a very large auditorium, I think it was more than 7,000 people present, and he began to ask people to stand if they accepted the Lord within certain bands of time.

[34:50] So he started up like 12 and younger and many people stood and he went up to 18 and people were standing but as he began to get into the later years fewer and fewer and fewer people were standing.

[35:06] He would get up into the 30s and the 40s fewer people were standing. He would have to look around the room and look very closely to see if there was anyone. There were just a very few people who were standing in those latter years.

[35:21] And so the preacher says to us do this while you still have time. And to our young people this morning those of you who you are able to hear me understand what I'm saying this morning but you also know that you have not trusted in Jesus Christ.

[35:38] Hear the words of the preacher remember your creator in the days of your youth. Remember your creator before these challenging years come when the hardships of life begin to engulf you and then when old age begins to settle in upon you.

[36:05] One of the other assumptions that a lot of young people make is that they will live to see old age. The preacher doesn't address it. The preacher only addresses old age and the reason he only addresses old age here is because those of you who have come through the series will remember that in earlier parts he talks about untimely death.

[36:31] He talks about people who die in an untimely kind of way. So while the hope is that we would all die at a ripe old age from just the natural causes of old age the truth is that many of us may not come to that point.

[36:52] If you were to get the obituary of this past Thursday in either one of the newspapers! Here's what I can guarantee. every single one of us will find a person approximately our age or our exact age who died.

[37:10] And if it's a fluke week and you don't see it this week, you go next week and buy the papers on Thursday and you will find that there are people who are dying young. Sometimes you look you see young babies.

[37:22] we were on the plane coming back on Wednesday and it was our lot to have three talkative people right behind us.

[37:33] And they were talking and talking and they were talking about many different things. my heart was breaking because their lives were so empty, the lives they were talking about. And things shifted a little bit when a gentleman told these two other ladies to whom he was talking that he lost the child at age four.

[37:56] And you could just sense the conversation changing. And he said there's nothing I can describe. There's nothing I can find the words to describe the extent of that loss.

[38:12] And see friends that's a reality. Young people die. It's hard when they do but they do and we need to face that.

[38:25] And it could be the lot of some this morning. It could be your lot as a young person that you may not live to see old age.

[38:36] And so you should not assume that when I get older I will serve the Lord. These are your best years now. This is your best opportunity now to listen to the words of the!

[38:49] preacher and say I would remember my creator in the days of my youth. And again, to remember him is to live for him.

[39:01] To remember him is to serve him.! God command alone was given and God folded his arms none of us not a single one of us would remember our creator.

[39:49] And the reason is because not a single one of us can remember our creator left to ourselves. And see this is why the Lord Jesus Christ had to come.

[40:02] And this is why when we read these verses awaken the storyline of the Bible. They awaken the storyline of the Bible. And the storyline of the Bible is that God created the heavens and the earth and he created man to rule over his creation.

[40:21] But the man whom he created rebelled against him. And in his rebellion became separated from God. And all mankind followed suit. Living in rebellion to the good creator God.

[40:37] And the only just punishment for that kind of rebellion is death. The only appropriate punishment for that kind of rebellion against a God who created and who generously gave to his creation is death.

[40:56] But God being the loving created that he is demonstrated his love for rebellious creatures by sending his son, his only son, to die for rebellious men, women, boys, and girls.

[41:14] To do for them what they could never do for themselves. To live a perfect life before him. and then to die a substitutionary death so that sinners can be forgiven and reconciled back to God.

[41:36] And so Jesus came and he lived and he died and he resurrected and he made it possible for sinners to be able to remember their creator.

[41:46] That's the only way that we're able to do this. and I believe that if Jesus were to take the men on the road to Emmaus through Ecclesiastes and he was to stop here, if he did do that, I believe that this would be one of the places that he would point out to them, this is why I had to come.

[42:11] Because men and women, boys and girls need to remember their creator, but they can't do it. They don't desire to do it. They are helpless in doing it.

[42:26] And Jesus came to make it possible that the creator can be remembered by rebellious sinners like us.

[42:39] That we would be able to put our trust and our faith in Jesus Christ and be able to know the pardon of sins and be able to know a clear conscience.

[42:50] it is interesting that although the preacher in verses 1 through 7 is contemplating long life that ends in death due to aging bodies that break down and die, he still remarks in verse 8, look at his remark in verse 8, vanity of vanities, says the preacher, all is vanity.

[43:16] vanity. And remember in Ecclesiastes the preacher uses vanity in two particular ways. One, in terms of that which is difficult to understand, that which we cannot make sense of.

[43:32] It's a chasing after the wind. It is a veiled understanding to those seeking to understand it. And then the second way that he uses it is to talk about that which is fleeting.

[43:44] and it means a vapor or a mist. And I believe that as he contemplates even long life in the scheme of things, I think the preacher is saying, vapor of vapor, it's all a vapor, a fleeting mist, even when you live to a ripe old age and die.

[44:10] It is a fleeting mist. it is a short time and therefore we are called to remember our creator. Whether we live long or we die early, we don't have a lot of time to remember our creator.

[44:30] And so this morning for those of us who have remembered our creator, let's be thankful to God for saving us. having trusted Christ, not only are we ready to die, but we're ready to stand before the judgment.

[44:51] And you know, I said to you this morning, if you have some apprehension about the judgment, you know that you have trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and personal Savior, but you still have some apprehension about the judgment.

[45:06] I think that apprehension is rooted in a lack of understanding that God has already judged those who put their trust in Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ when he hung on the cross.

[45:21] See, when we are truly resting and trusting in Jesus and in his merits, that's all that's on our minds when we stand before God. That is our only plea.

[45:32] We have no other plea. We're not going to plead our halfway good works. we're not going to go there trying to build our story to give a defense for where we fell short here or there.

[45:45] No, Jesus has been judged for all of that. And therefore, for those of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ, our hearts are to be ready to go before the judgment and plead the mercies of Jesus Christ and plead his substitutionary death on our behalf, that he has answered for all of our sins.

[46:08] He has paid for all of our sins. And God will not raise them or mention them before us again. And we will receive no condemnation when we stand before him.

[46:20] If we have remembered our creator in the days of our youth, judgment is not something to fear. It is a delight to stand before a holy God who has sent his son to take our place so that our only plea before him is Jesus died for me.

[46:43] And for those who have not yet trusted Jesus Christ, I just say to you today, why don't you today? Why don't you, while you have time, remember your creator?

[46:57] Why don't you, while you have time, turn and live for him and serve him and humble yourself and recognize that the very breath that you draw is from the God who created and the God before whom you will stand and give an account for your life.

[47:21] And here you have the gift of the words of the preacher saying to you, remember your creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, I have no pleasure in death.

[47:41] I wasn't going to mention this but I will do so as I conclude. Studying about death and thinking about death, you get these funny thoughts in your head, at least I did.

[48:00] And the slightest pain you feel, especially if it's in your chest, you begin to think, oh my goodness, is this the time for me? Maybe that's why the Lord has me studying about death, to prepare me for death.

[48:13] You know I was aware of this whole issue of death, old age, and all that it brings on, it could happen like that.

[48:27] Our health could change just like that. And even though we may be younger, these same realities, where these calamities difficulties and challenges have come upon us.

[48:43] We have no more pleasure in life, we're just basically going through trying to survive, trying to get well, and it can happen just so suddenly. And so let us not assume that old age alone would bring on these kinds of challenges that we have considered this morning.

[49:04] a moment of unexpected illness can bring them on as well. And therefore, if you've not yet remembered your creator, I urge you, do it today.

[49:20] Spile your heart in humility before God and acknowledge and say, Lord, I didn't create myself, you created me. Would you forgive me for living as if I created myself?

[49:33] would you help me to live for you? And you cry out to the Lord. Scripture says he will not turn away those who come to him.

[49:44] If you cry out to the Lord and you mean that, he will mean business with you. If you mean business with him, he will mean business with you. He will not brush you aside.

[49:55] If you come to him in sincere faith, turning to him as your only savior, he will receive you as he has promised.

[50:06] Let's pray. Father, thank you this morning for your word, for this precious command to remember our creator while we still have time.

[50:29] We ask, oh Lord, that you would cause those of us who because of your great mercy, who because you brought us to yourself, you granted us the gift of repentance, you had mercy on us and saved us.

[50:52] We're able to stand and have the assurance and have the assurance that it is indeed well with our souls because we have remembered our creator in the days of our youth.

[51:06] Lord, I pray today that that truth will overshadow all other truths in our lives and realities that we face. And then, Lord, likewise, for those who do not know Jesus Christ, let the awareness that they need to remember their creator while they have time, overshadow and loam larger than any other priority that they have in their life.

[51:37] God have mercy on us today. in Jesus' name.