Ecclesiastes 12.1-8 Living on the Borders of Eternity

Living on the Borders of Eternity

January 28, 2018

Remembering is an essential part of worship. We are to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy so that we might rest in our Savior (). We are to remember Christ’s death in the Lord’s Supper ().

I. Remember –

A. In the midst of rejoicing in youth –

1. Youth have great energy, hope, and enthusiasm

2. Our God desires for youth to be cheerful and joyful – You have the dew of youth –

3. Walk in the desires of your heart. No one is to despise your youth –

B. Remember your Creator in the midst of the joys of youth

1. Why? Because it is so easy to forget who gives you your strength,

energy, and hope for the future. He is your Creator.

2. Youth “following their heart” often follow their lusts, so flee youthful lusts –

3. One’s childhood and youth are vanity when lived only for the moment –

4. Youth is loaned to the young and they are not to forget the Giver of joy and youth

C. Joy is only in God’s presence –

1. The joy of the Lord enables us to enjoy everything else –

2. Joy requires remembering the Lord –

II. Difficult Days –

A. Aging results in greater difficulty –

1. Difficulty is not “evil”

2. They result in less pleasure in temporal things

B. Growing old is an ascent spiritually even as we decline physically

1. Eyesight, teeth, hearing, and energy all decline

2. As Samuel Rutherford poetically describes it, “grace grows best in winter.”

3. God “hedges” up our way –

4. Although there is greater loneliness –

5. We may have a greater joy in Christ our Savior –

6. As our outer man perishes, the inner man is renewed day by day –

C. Christ becomes more of our joy and strength –

1. We can die to ourselves

2. That we might live to God –

III. Death as a Friend –

A. It is a grief to lay aside our earthly body –

1. Death is pictured as the loss of what is valuable, i.e. a silver cord; a golden bowl

2. Our dust is returning to the earth as God promised to Adam because of his sin –

B. God’s design is to return the spirit He gave us to Himself

1. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord –

2. It is God Himself who calls those in Christ to the home Jesus is preparing for us –

Jesus Christ is our home. This world in not our home. Dying is like when a father carries his child from the dark car to his/her own bed in their father’s home. May we look forward to our true home. Youth are well served to remember their true home!