In Mike Davenport's sermon titled 'Is Your Future Shaping Your Present?', he explores the message of Ecclesiastes 11:9 to 12:8, urging young people to consider how their future should influence their present lives. Davenport emphasizes three key points: a call to remove, a call to remember, and a call to reflect. The sermon warns of the dangers of youthful vanity and the inevitability of God's judgment, urging the young to remove sorrow and evil from their lives. Davenport stresses the importance of remembering the Creator in one's youth before difficult days come, advocating for a life centered on God. The sermon uses vivid analogies to highlight the consequences of ignoring spiritual warnings and posits that true fulfillment and a peaceful end of life can only be found through a relationship with Christ. It concludes with a call for young people to let their future shape their present, making choices that lead to eternal joy with God.

If you would open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 11. Ecclesiastes 11. The text today will be 11-9 through 12-8, but we'll pick up the reading beginning with verse 8 of chapter 11. But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity.

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. Therefore, remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity. Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come and the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them. While the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are not darkened and the clouds do not return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men bow down, when the grinders cease because they are few and those that look through the windows grow dim.

When the doors are shut in the streets and the sound of grinding is low. When one rises up at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of music are brought low. Also they are afraid of height and of terrors in the way. When the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper is a burden and desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets.

Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bolt is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain or the wheel broken at the well then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God who gave it vanity of vanities, says the preacher, all is vanity. Let us pray. Oh Lord, this is a sobering text That tells us of the difficult and dark days that lie ahead And these are days that because of sin lie ahead for all whose life is prolonged But oh Lord there are darker days and worse days ahead for those who do not remember you, who do not call upon you, who do not flee to Jesus Christ. Oh Father, this text is before us today, but we need your Spirit. And Lord, I pray that you would give me grace to preach nothing but your word.

And Lord, for those dry bones who may be in our midst today, even some of our sons and our daughters, oh God, would it not please you in the midst of this preaching to come by your spirit and to breathe upon those dry bones and say to those bones, live, live, and that you would raise up an army to yourself of those who love and honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be all the glory this morning, we pray in His great name. Amen. You may be seated. Amen.

You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning takes the form of a question, And here it is. Is your future shaping your present? Is your future shaping your present? It is a question that Solomon is asking here in our text and he is directing this question to young people, to young people.

So you young people here this morning and some of you will, my age and around my age, will feel a little better as you'll see a little later that he sees young people in a different light than what we typically think. It extends a little longer because they'll describe days in our elderly age and So this is a word for almost all of us in this room And I want you to consider especially you very young people Consider with me reasons why you owe this passage your utmost attention. First, the author Solomon is a man who, if by no other reason than the fullness of his own experience, deserves your fullest attention. If by no reason other than the fact of his experience, you owe him your attention, but let us not stop there. Consider that God also crowned Solomon with a wisdom from above.

These words are penned by the second wisest man that ever lived. But the most compelling reason that you should listen and receive these words this morning is that they are God-breathed. These are inspired words from the living God. Solomon's other book, the Book of Proverbs, makes it clear that Solomon had a burden for the youth. And having written this book of Ecclesiastes that we've been studying for some time and Declaring the vanity of all that is apart from God He ends the book with an appeal to young people Dear young person do you grasp God's grace?

Manifested to you in speaking here directly to you? This is His grace. He wants you to hear this, declaring to you things that pertain to your happiness for all eternity. Do you grasp the gravity of the consequences that await you if you don't heed these words of wisdom. I pray that you will have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to you in this passage.

So in the time before us this morning, I ask you to consider with me the following three points. A call to remove, a call to remember, and a call to reflect. A call to remove, a call to remember, and a call to reflect. So first, a call to remove. Verse 9, rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes But know that for all these god will bring you into judgment To better understand these verses and what Solomon is doing in this call for the young man to rejoice, consider with me several things.

First, the immediate context. Look at the immediate context and look in so doing at the preceding verse, verse 8 that we read before. But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity." Solomon introduces the possibility of someone rejoicing in all of their years and not remembering, not being prepared for the days of darkness, the many days of darkness. Having said that, he now, I believe, here in our text this morning, addresses the group most likely to make that fatal mistake.

Youth and even more specifically, young men. Youth are most likely to search out reasons to rejoice and to put all serious thought about what is to come, just to put it off. In regard to this immediate context, look also at the text that follows this admonition to rejoice. We see in it first a warning, but know, but know that for all these things, these very things that you're pursuing, God will bring you into judgment. Then we find admonitions that accompany that warning.

In light of the natural propensities of youth and in light of the judgment of God in regard to choices made and paths taken, one should remove, put away, and remember. Secondly, not forgetting what the immediate context teaches us, but consider also the previous positive admonitions of Solomon to rejoice or to enjoy. Back in chapter 3 verses 12 and 13, Solomon's admonition to rejoice and enjoy is coupled with the admonition to do good with your life. We are exhorted to rejoice in our food, our drink, and our labor, and we are to do so with recognition of these things as gifts from God above. In chapter 5, verses 18 through 20, once again we see the enjoyment and the rejoicing of the things which God provides as a man's heritage, food, drink, labor, riches even, and wealth, all acknowledged in that text as from the hand of God.

Solomon also states here in this text that God is at the center of the joys of that man's heart. A qualifying clause. In chapter 9 verses 7 through 9, we find the same sources of enjoyment, bread, wine, and labor, plus a few more, white garments, oil for anointing, and your wife. And note in this context that Solomon states that this rejoicing is predicated upon the knowledge that God has accepted your works. So consider that these previous admonitions all note either the gifting of God, joy in God, or acceptance with God.

It's God-centered. Consider also that none of these contexts are accompanied with either warnings or admonitions in tow, quite unlike our context here in chapter 11. Thirdly, note the overarching context of the entire book. It is the autobiography of a prodigal son, Solomon, who walks in his own way and according to the dictates of his own heart and according to the sight of his own eyes and finds vanity at the end of every path that he takes. He himself was that youth whom he now, in the latter years of his life, having come back to the Lord, admonishes.

Solomon described the rejoicing of his youth like this back in chapter 2. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled, and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no prophet under the sun.

Fourthly, consider that walking in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes is never used in a positive context in Scripture. It is always something to be abandoned. We see that in texts such as Numbers 15, 39, Psalm 81, 12, Isaiah 55, 7 through 8, Jeremiah 18, 12, 2 Peter 2, 14 and 15, and 1 John 2, 15 and 16. My young friend, please understand. It is in your very nature to walk according to the dictates of your heart, according to the way you see things.

The same Solomon states in Proverbs, there is a way that seems right to a man, but we know what those ends are. Solomon was well aware of the thoughts in your heart as you sit here this morning in this context you tell yourself all is well there is plenty of time in the future to get serious about the things of God maybe tomorrow as for today just another day to rejoice in the vanity of youth, to cheer your heart with the prospects of today only, to spend your time in your own ways. But Solomon would not have you ignorant. He would not have you press on in your ways without confronting you with the realities of the coming day of judgment. So he goes on to say at the end of verse 9, but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment.

He says no. Be assured. Be confident. Don't forget, God will bring everything you do and everything you say into judgment. There will be a reckoning.

How you have spent your time will suddenly become an urgent matter even though it may not seem so urgent right now. God will often leave young people to the folly of their ways and if that's where you find yourself this morning then it may seem to you that you're free, you're free, that the train of your desires and ambitions are not inhibited by the tracks laid down by your parents or by God. Your heart may even provide some momentary reason for joy and rejoicing, but those feelings will come to an end. I call to your memory an illustration that I have given before. It's written by John Blanchard in the book, Whatever Happened to Hell.

On the 12th of December 1984, dense fog shrouded M25 near Godstone in Surrey, a few miles south of London. The hazard warning lights were on, but were ignored by most drivers. At 6 15 a.m., a flatbed semi carrying huge rolls of paper was involved in an accident and within minutes the highway was engulfed in carnage. Dozens of cars were wrecked. Ten people were killed.

A police patrol car was soon on the scene and two policemen ran back up the motorway to stop oncoming traffic. They waved their arms and shouted as loud as they could but most drivers took no notice and raced on towards the disaster that awaited them. The policeman then picked up traffic cones and flung them at the car's windshields in a desperate attempt to warn drivers of their danger. One policeman told how tears streamed down his face as car after car went by And he waited for the sickening sound of impact as they hit the growing mass of wreckage down the road. Solomon is posting the warning signs.

He is trying to flag you down, to stop you in your tracks, to make you aware of the danger ahead. Are you listening? Will you heed his instructions to you? Will you take that destructive path that he started down and found vanity at the end? There is an account given regarding the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, who passed out little Bibles to all the men in his army.

One of those who received a Bible was a young, unconverted man who didn't care a thing about the Bible, didn't care a thing about God, and he, I'm sure, like many of them, took that Bible and stuffed it into the pocket, the breast pocket of whatever he was wearing. Well, in the midst of a subsequent battle, this young man was shot in the chest, a musket ball by God's providence striking that Bible and embedding itself in its pages. That Bible stopping that musket ball from reaching his flesh. When the battle was over, The young man took out the Bible and opened it to the very place that that musket ball had stopped It had stopped right on these words but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. And God used that for the saving of that young man's soul.

I ask you dear young person, What does God have to do to get your attention? What does he have to do? Today, he is coming sweetly and gently with these convicting words. Will you hear what he has to say? Charles Bridges writes, actions forgotten by ourselves will rise up with all their freshness.

Even where traces had been worn out, our past history will be read again. The manifestation of all hearts, of all the secrets of all hearts, willing or unwilling, we must stand before the great white throne alone in the midst of the countless throng, no evasion, no escape, no shelter, no advocate, no change. The curse of God, the entrance into an eternity of woes. Well, Solomon goes on in verse 10 of chapter 11 to tell how you should spend your time in your youth, how you should spend your time in your youth. Therefore, remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your flesh for childhood and youth are vanity.

There is an urgent need to resist the impress of the world and even the wickedness of your own sinful heart. You are to spend your time removing and putting away, in other words, a holy resistance in the power of the Spirit. Remove from your heart all the experiences that are destined to bring you nothing but sorrow, eternal sorrow, and vexation of soul. Spend your time going to war against the carrying out of youthful lusts and foolishness, putting away the evil of your flesh. Resist the world's advertisements of lasting pleasure that they claim is to be found and what they have to offer because their manufacturing department will never be able to deliver what was advertised.

Do you know anything of these spiritual exercises of removing, of putting away? You see, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. Are you conscientiously giving up? Are you putting away evil from your flesh? Once while preaching, Eric Alexander told the story of a circus performer who had a boa constrictor that he used as part of his entertaining performance.

At a certain point in his performance, the man would play a pipe and out from that basket would come this snake and the snake would make its way over to the man and little by little would coil itself, making his way up around this man's body until it came face to face, eyeball to eyeball with this man. And the man would have to do nothing but speak a word. And that snake would slowly uncoil itself, making its way back to the floor, slithering back, going back into the basket from which it came. But then one day, something unplanned happened. Having coiled itself completely around the performer, eyeball to eyeball with the man, the snake began to constrict.

And the man said the words over and over, but the snake did not reply at all. It did not do anything, but continued to constrict, continued to squeeze. The rib-crushing power of this snake slowly overcame him, no longer able to breathe, No longer able to cry for help, the man was slowly crushed under the power of the snake, while the watching multitude looked on in amazement, thinking that this was all part of the act. So it is with sin, my friend. So it is with sin.

You may feel that you control that passion, that you control that lust, that you can say no whenever you want to Playing with it until the point that you order it back into the basket, but there's coming a day When you will discover that this passion this lust is not actually under your control you are under its control And someday that sin will little by little crush the life out of you and you will be powerless to do anything. Why is Solomon so burdened for young people? Well, he tells us why at the end of verse 10, because he is aware that the years of childhood and the years of youth pass quickly, that they are fleeting. There is little serious thought given to eternity. There is little vital care given to preparation for eternity.

Oh, what wisdom there is in seeking Christ and seeking eternal things in the vitality and strength of your youth when the capacity to enjoy and rejoice in God is at its apex. But not only does Solomon issue a call to remove, he secondly in our passage issues a call to remember, a call to remember. Chapter 12 verse 1, remember now your Creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them." David Gibson says of this verse, Ecclesiastes wants those of us who are young enough to hear Solomon to realize that the doctrine of creation is the wellspring of a life well lived. It orients us to truths about God and about ourselves, which can have a radical impact on how we live in the world. Remembering your Creator means remembering that God made a good world, not an evil one, and that we are the ones responsible for spoiling it, not he.

Remembering God as creator means taking my place in the world in the appropriate way and not demanding for myself more than it is my right to have." He goes on to say, the call to remember our Creator while we are young is a command to recall how the world was meant to be and to seek to live in the light of that before the reality of how the world actually now is catches up with us and sweeps us along in the inevitable descent into old age. The fallenness of the created order has not removed all its goodness and beauty. If we live as if it has, then we have forgotten the Creator. The word before appears in chapter 12, verse 1, and 12, 6, he says, and verse 6 contains repeated images of the finality of death which is coming to us all. We must remember who God is, who we are, and how we should live before the curtain comes down and the life we have been given by God is taken from us again by Him." You see, the removing and putting away in the previous verse must, must be accompanied by a remembrance of your Creator, a seeking to have Him permeate your every thought and every deed.

Please listen to the words of the psalmist in Psalm 10 for, the wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. And I would like for you to take a moment and consider whether God is in your thoughts. Is God in your thoughts? Is He?

Or do you think yourself perfectly fine without Him? My fear is that we as Reformed people, you young people as growing up in Reformed Baptist families, my fear is that we as a people can read our Bibles, we can come to church, We can abide by the laws of God and even put away evil things from our flesh and yet it is possible That in all this time not have God in any of our thoughts We saw such a picture in our recent study of Revelation 3, the Church of Laodicea, that they considered the state of things and determined that they didn't have need of anything. They didn't even have need of Christ. That's the point they had gotten to. He was in none of their thoughts.

He could just stay on the outside and just keep on knocking, wanting to come in and fellowship with them. He's fine out there. No need for his presence so we can fill our lives with good things and yet not remember our Creator. The Puritan Thomas Watson said, Morality may damn as well as vice. A vessel may be sunk with gold as well as with dung.

Why is there a need for Solomon to exhort you to remember? Well, the days of youth are generally marked as days of pleasure. Cares are not marked or realized. The burdens of the day are light. And you and your youth are often shielded from grief and external pain.

But these days are short days, described as vanity because they move like the wind. Variable, swift, unpredictable. The Bible describes our life as a vapor. That being the case, what can rightly be said of just those years of youth that make up only a portion of that whole lifespan that is considered a vapor? You see, the shortness of time is not usually realized when you're young.

The years that separate you from the elderly, they may seem to you like a large chasm. That's a long way off. And you assume that those days in between there, they belong to you. Those are your years. You may presume upon Moses prayer in Psalm 90, thinking that you will have your full 70, if not 80 years, maybe more.

But you see, in this verse, Solomon is not content to merely cast your eyes heavenward and to call you to remember. His use of words brings your attention to your attention the urgency, the urgency of the exhortation to remember. Time is of the essence. Delay and procrastination are damning. He pleads, remember Now, now, before, before the difficult days come and the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them.

You see, What he is getting ready to describe is simply the beginning of those days of darkness that we read about in chapter 11 verse 8, days that will prove to be many days. You see, the Bible teaches us That it is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance. It's his goodness The goodness of God most often abounds during the period of one's younger years. It just abounds. My dear young person, consider the goodness of God that has been your experience.

Is it leading you to repentance? Is it? I know you're tasting of the goodness. I see it. Is it leading you to repentance?

Or are you hardening your heart in the very midst of God's goodness lavished out upon you? Are you remembering your creator in the days of your youth. Bridges rightly states, many have remembered too late, none too soon. Remembering is the work of the whole man of the whole life. So we've seen a call to remove, a call to remember, and now thirdly and finally a call to reflect, a call to reflect.

In these next seven verses, Solomon begins to describe the effects of old age upon these bodies that we find ourselves in. And he used his almost poetic language to describe the effects that this aging process has upon us. In setting this before us, he desires that we reflect upon what is to come. Remember, this section was introduced by chapter 11 verse 8, but if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember, let him remember the days of darkness for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity.

Solomon is calling us to not only remember our creator but to remember the days of darkness that lie ahead and to reflect upon our future. Anyone who has spent some time with the elderly will see the connections being made in these verses. Some of us may be even starting to feel some of those effects ourselves. Commentators may differ on exact interpretation because of this poetic nature of the language, but the reality remains. These are descriptions of those dark days and any variation in interpretation does not diminish the purpose of Solomon calling us to reflect upon these things.

Charles Bridges writes, Charles Bridges writes, every day is lost that is not spent for your Creator. Let not the deceiver cheat us out of all time by cheating us of the present time. Bridges then goes on to quote John Wesley's mother, a letter that she wrote to her son. Believe me, my dear son, old age is the Worst time we can choose to mend either our lives or our fortune if the foundations of solid piety, and I can't help but think of the book Early Piety that was just published a couple of years ago. If the foundation of solid piety are not laid early in sound principles and virtuous dispositions and if neglect while strength and vigor last to lay up something before the infirmities of old age overtake us, it is an hundred to one odds that we shall die both poor and wicked." Young person, do you like those odds?

You ready to gamble? 99 times out of 100 you will die poor and wicked, cut off from God for all eternity. For all eternity. So we read in verse 2, remember your creator while the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are not darkened, and the clouds do not return after the rain." That's not returning to you, but returning to their place. They've rained and they stick around.

That is to say, serve God now while the conditions are good. For soon this coming storm will gather and it will block out the beauty and the light you so much enjoyed. And once the clouds have emptied themselves of the rain, they do not return to their place. They rather hang around perpetually bringing days of darkness. One trouble ends, another trouble begins, And on and on it goes.

Verse 3, in the days, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men bow down, We are to reflect upon the fact that the day is coming when arms and hands will begin to tremble and the legs will bend with weakness. When the grinders cease because they are few and those that look through the window grow dim. You see, we're to reflect upon the fact that the day is coming when teeth will be fewer. We'll have as many as we used to. And the very act of chewing the grinding of the food becomes difficult.

The eyes deal with loss of vision. Nobody's born with glasses. Sometimes early in life we have to have them, then as we get old we have to have bifocals. And then sometimes there's the dealing with diseases of glaucoma or cataracts. Those looking through the windows grow dim.

Verse 4, when the doors are shut in the streets and the sound of grinding is low. We are to reflect upon the fact that the day is coming when the ordinary conversations of life are difficult as if all doors of communication seem shut. You go out in the street and streets empty, the doors are shut, and there's that difficulty of conversing because of age. Hearing is diminished and with it the ability to make sense of what is being said to you. And with that difficulty comes the issue of knowing what to say and reply, and the loss of teeth adds to that difficulty.

When one rises up at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of music are brought low, we are to reflect upon the coming trial of early wakefulness, waking at the slightest noise or even of a loss of good night's sleep. The normal delights of the gift of music and the ability to actually sing well and loud, they come to an end. They gradually cease. Verse 5, also they are afraid of height and of terrors in the way. We are to reflect upon the fact that the day is coming when standing on a ladder or on the roof of the house is not needed to bring fear.

Simply standing up is accompanied with the fear of falling. With the fear of falling and because the legs become so weak there's a need for aid and that fear increases. In fact it says the simple endeavors of the day are accompanied by ever-growing and increasing fear. Just going out of the house for a little while, knowing if you'll come back, knowing if you'll find your way back. What will you meet with in the way and what if you need your medicine and you're not home?

They pile on all the fears that come with age. When the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper is a burden and desire fails. You see, the day is coming when the hair of the head will be white like the springtime blossoms of the almond tree. It changes color or it may fall out. When the simplest movements of the body become a burden, Just a simple grasshopper, he just hops around, doesn't know any better, hop, hop, hop, everywhere he goes.

As if that were to become a burden, just the everyday affairs of life. Buttoning your shirt, tying your shoes, brushing your teeth, all become burdens. And when all the simple pleasures that life has to offer, They seem as nothing. The things you used to enjoy, you can live without them. You can live without them.

You used to look forward to them. And now if they don't happen, it's all right. All that your heart once desired no longer satisfies. Reflect upon the fact that all these things in some measure are the destiny of all who reach this season of life in this fallen world, difficult days, the years when you say, I have no pleasure in them. If you only live in the here and now And never reflect upon what is to come in your latter years in order to prepare yourself.

There will be no pleasure to be found when the day actually comes. And as difficult and dark as these days may seem, the most difficult days, the darkest days lie ahead for all those who have failed to love and serve their Creator. When all these days are past, we read in the latter part of verse 5, for man goes to his eternal home and the mourners go about the streets. The soul of man eventually finds its eternal abode, either in heaven or in hell. Home will be fixed, fixed, unchangeable, unalterable, and unending.

And those whom you leave behind will mourn for you in the streets, going about in the streets mourning your departure, but only for a time. And then you will go back, They will go back to the business of their lives, and you will be forgotten as we read earlier in Ecclesiastes. And the mourners will go about their daily life until Their time comes and the days of darkness come upon them. And so verses 6 and 7 remember your Creator Before the silver cord is loosed or the golden bowl is broken or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit will return to God who gave it." The words, remember, your creator in the text are not in the original.

They are probably italicized if you're reading in the New King James, but they're added to further carry that context from verse one into these remaining verses here. Charles Bridges describes these phrases, these four phrases here, as the loosing of the inexplicable bond of unity between the body and soul. See, we enjoy this, we can't explain it, but we enjoy this unity of body and soul. And as the body decays, as it grows old as it becomes weaker It comes to the point Where it dies in? The dust For wit man was created by dust returns to dust and what happens There's a division now for a short time of body and soul.

You see the silver cord is loosed. These two things that were bound together no longer bound together. The golden ball is broken, the body no longer able to house the Spirit. The pitcher is shattered at the fountain and the wheel is broken at the well. You see, there's no longer the ability to draw up life from the soul.

The body returns to the dust it originated from according to the curse God placed upon man due to Adam's sin, and the soul returns to the one who breathed that very soul into that body that he had formed. It returns to God. Consider that fault for a moment. Stop and consider. Your spirit will return to God who gave it.

It's not yours. It's not yours. It will return to God. Bridges writes, The Spirit's homeward return is for no indifferent end. There's a reason.

It was sent here to glorify God. It returns to God to give an account of the great end proposed. Oh, writes Bridges, let reader and writer ponder it with solemn anxiety. Where will my return homeward to my God fix me for eternity? Among the lost to share their despairing wail or among the redeemed to tune my golden heart to their triumphal songs.

Your spirit will return to the God who gave it. Verse 8, vanity of vanities, says the preacher. All is vanity. Solomon is the preacher. Ecclesiastes is his sermon.

And this phrase, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, we saw it back in chapter 1 verse 2. And now we see it here again at the end of 12-8, and it acts as bookends to everything that Solomon has said. Nothing that Solomon has experienced or discovered has changed his verdict. He said at the beginning, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And here he is at the end of the book, and I believe at the end of his life.

And he says again, vanity of vanities. All is vanity. There's Nothing lasting here. There is nothing that remains constant that remains the same There is nothing in the creation that is meant to satisfy our deepest needs and longings. Only our Creator, only our Creator, only Christ.

He is forever. He never changes. He alone can satisfy. Listen to this beautiful prayer of Richard Baxter and ask yourself if his thoughts and desires are reflective of your thoughts and desires. My God, in Thee I expect my true felicity and content to know Thee and love thee and delight in thee must be my blessedness or I must have none.

The little tastes of this sweetness which my thirsty soul hath had do tell me that there is no other real joy. He dreameth who doth not live to thee. Oh, let me have no other portion, no reason, no love, no life, but what is devoted to Thee, employed on Thee, and for Thee here, and shall be perfected in Thee, the only perfect final object, forevermore. Dear young person, consider what is at stake. Consider what is at stake.

What is hanging in the balance. Remove the soul vexing things from your life and the youthful lust that will destroy your soul. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth and reflect upon the final days in this world and the eternity that awaits on the other side of death. Two paths lie before you, only two, a path of bitterness and a path of sweetness, a path of misery and a path of joy, a path of eternal death and a path of eternal life. Author and pastor David Gibson writes, sin may seem pleasant to us now, But we must not forget how it will appear when we get past it and turn to look back on it.

Especially must we keep in mind how it will seem from a dying pillow. Nothing brings such pure peace and quiet joy at the close as a well-lived past. We are every day laying up the food on which we must feed in the closing years. We are hanging up pictures about the walls of our hearts that we shall have to look at when we sit in the shadows, how important that we live pure and holy lives. Ever even forgiven sins will mar the peace of old age." Listen to that, what he says, even forgiven sins will mar the peace of old age For the ugly scars will remain summing all up in one Only Christ can make any life young or old Truly beautiful or truly happy Only He can cure the heart's restless fever and give quietness and calmness.

Only He can purify that sinful fountain within us, our corrupt nature, and make us holy. To have a peaceful and blessed ending to life, We must live it with Christ. Such a life grows brighter even to its close. Its last days are the sunniest and the sweetest. The more earth's joys fail, the nearer and more satisfying do the comforts become.

The nests over which the wing of God droops, which in the bright summer days of prosperous strength lay hidden among the leaves. Those same nests stand out uncovered in the days of decay and feebleness when the winter has stripped the branches bare. And for such a life, death has no terrors. It can get sweeter. It can get better.

But only those who have walked with God, as Asaph did, can exclaim like he did in Psalm 73 26, my flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Can you say that? Can you say that? Is that true of you? Is God the strength of your heart and your portion forever.

Let your future shape your present. Let the thoughts of old age and eternity that follow dictate the choices you make today. Flee to Jesus Christ. Rest your soul completely upon Him. Let us pray.

Father, we thank you for this penetrating word. We ask your blessing upon it, O God, that you would give the young among us sobriety as they think of these things, a soberness that just overcomes them, help them not to push these things out of their mind, oh the devil would seek to come and snatch up the seed that was sown. May not do so, O Lord. May not do so. May there be much fruit to eternity.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.