SOLOMON'S WARNING: Life Advice That Will Change Your Future (Ecclesiastes 11-12)

the great regrets and blunders of king solomon we have arrived at the conclusion of solomon's book solomon had a relationship with the lord in his early years but he drifted away from god and began to live from a completely earthly perspective in that environment solomon viewed life and came to some incorrect assumptions solomon is the wisest man who ever lived yet he didn't always live intelligently ecclesiastes is a philosophical work solomon used logic to reach the conclusion that life is pointless and vain his two main premises were as follows first everything of our existence is

under the sun second everything under the sun is vanity or meaningless as a result he came to the conclusion that life has no significance when solomon's first premise stated that all life is beneath the sun he made a mistake in his reasoning he should have known better solomon wrote the book of ecclesiastes near the end of his life and it teaches us a lot of things i say the later end of his life because it's fairly simple to determine an author's age based on his writing one of the most well-known works in the bible is

the song of songs we can tell how old solomon was by the words he spoke he lauded the love of a girl in the song of psalms indicating that he was still in his youth then when you read proverbs he wrote now son keep an eye on the woman now we see he is middle aged we can see that he is attempting to prevent his son from repeating his mistakes but in ecclesiastes he says remember your creator in the days of your youth before the teeth are few and the eyes are dim and the legs

are shake he is nearing the end of his life here as a young man he had come to understand that beyond the natural world exists a world that is more real as a result by leaving god out of his thinking he arrived at the incorrect conclusion solomon the old testament prodigal eventually returned to the god of his boyhood he raised his gaze to the things visible above the light that's the only way you'll ever comprehend what it's like to live now from a proper standpoint he provides three brief remarks about life part one life is

a presentation listen to it solomon compared life to a play we are the actors on the theater this world is the stage and god has given us a script ecclesiastes 12 1-3 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 grinder cease because they are few and those that look through the windows grow dim god is sent a message to every young person your youth might seem carefree and happy go lucky but it is also a critical time typically the most critical decisions in life are made when we are young so solomon offers some advice for you remember now your creator come to christ while you are still young don't squander your life and then hand the tattered remains to god following that solomon provided the most vivid depiction of the aging process available

anywhere there will come a time when the irreversible aging process will take hold aging is a drag in his writings refers to increasing joy darkness refers to increasing gloom with aging comes a tendency for gloom and despair to enter in 2 corinthians 5 1 for we know that if our earthly house this tent is destroyed we have a building from god a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens solomon likened the human body to a house our earthly residence is a tent ecclesiastes 12 3-5 in the day when the keepers of the house

tremble and the strong men bow down when the grinder 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 the following are

the highlights in verse 3 the elderly arms and legs are compared to the trembling caretakers of the house strong backs sag as they age the darkish windows represent eyes while the grinders are teeth in verse 4 hearing loss is compared to a door closing we sleep less and wake up earlier as we become older and loud noises irritate us verse 5 acknowledges increased caution and fearfulness as hair almond tree blossoms goes gray light weights become a burden and all kinds of cravings lust eating and others diminish you may be youthful today but you will be

elderly if you live long enough pay close attention the older you become the more funerals you'll go to before your own arrives ecclesiastes 12 6-8 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 vanity of vanities says the preacher all is vanity solomon has reached the end of his life's play death can be a jarring startling

and shattering experience and your death is the opposite of creation our corpses decompose into dust god has written the script for life's drama when you've lived your life to the fullest you'll be able to answer the great director in glory it's no surprise solomon was thinking about the vain things in life gloom depression and despair do not have to be a part of old age psalm 92 14 they shall still bear fruit in old age they shall be fresh and flourishing second corinthians 5 8 we are confident yes well pleased rather to be absent from

the body and to be present with the lord philippians 1 21 for to me to live is christ and to die is gain part 2 life is an education learn from it ecclesiastes 12 10-12 the preacher sought to find acceptable words and what was written was upright words of truth the words of the wise are like goads and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd and further my son be admonished by these of making many books there is no end and much study is worrisome to the flesh part 3 life

is a destination live for it ecclesiastes 12 13 let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear god and keep his commandments for this is man's all life marches ahead rather than backward you're on your way to a place worth living for first and foremost consider your personal salvation fear god in the old testament means believe on the lord jesus christ and you will be saved do you realize you've been saved second pay attention to your ongoing sanctification and keep his commandments god knows where we are going and how to get there he gave

you the bible for your ongoing sanctification to become more and more like christ acts 16 31 so they said believe on the lord jesus christ and you will be saved you and your household proverbs 12 13 the wicked is ensnared by the transgression of his lips but the righteous will come through trouble ecclesiastes 12 14 for god will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil third be mindful of your upcoming assessment life is not the destination in and of itself rather it is the path that leads to the destination

god is the ultimate destination of life an examination is on the way everything will be judged by the god who knows everything romans 11 36 for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever amen acts 17 30-31 truly these times of ignorance god overlooked but now commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained he has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead solomon saw

that life is a vanity among vanities without the lord the good news is found in 1st corinthians 15 58 which states therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the lord always lead to the graveyard without christ all roads lead to glory with christ the truth is you only get one shot at life yesterday has passed you won't be able to get it back you only have one chance at life and it's dreadful to get at the end of it

and feel like you've missed it he could have anything he wanted and do everything he wanted for starters he was king which meant he could do whatever he pleased he was also rich he was a highly wealthy individual he was also famous now these are the things that the majority of people desire wealth power and fame are all the things that people strive for because this particular old man wrote it ecclesiastes is worth reading now i'm going to begin with chapter 11 verse 9 ecclesiastes 11 9 you who are young be happy while you are

young and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see but know that for all these things god will bring you into judgment what an important message for today's youth to hear pay close attention to what he says now remember god first and foremost he continues keep his name in mind and he admits that he had forgotten about him of course this is why god isn't mentioned in song of songs he had forgotten about god while young and in love and all

he could think about was this girl just remember god while you're young before it's too late he advises youth fear god he says a second time you should not only remember him but also fear him according to the bible's wisdom literature the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom the bible will teach you what it means to be wise god will demand an account of what you've done with the life he's given you and the fear of him saying you messed it up is a legitimate one and it's important to fear god it's

one of the biggest motivations to live right and yet jesus said to be born again believers when individuals on the inside don't fear the lord those on the outside don't fear him at all so keep god in mind be afraid of him and obey him remember god fear him and study his way of life this i believe is why ecclesiastes is included in our bible it describes where you will end up if you do not discover his way of life that if you don't understand the meaning of life from both the perspective of heaven and

the next world you will be disillusioned disappointed and dejected saying well it was all for naught what was the point of this many people share the sentiment christians on the other hand do not they recognize that everything we do for the lord is not in vain it is his eternal ramifications for good or ill that things could happen in you this weekend that will last forever because our eternal fate is at stake that is i believe why it is in the bible god teaches us how to live positively in the bible but he also teaches

us how not to do things negatively and he gives us both positive and negative examples which together create a positive image ecclesiastes is a book that is primarily pessimistic it's saying don't finish up like this because if you ignore god forget about him don't fear him and don't live your life according to the maker's instructions you'll come to the end and realize it was all for naught do you want to live that way or do you want to live god's way then you will get to the end and say thank you god