Before The Evil Days Come

Introduction

I want to take you to a familiar verse tonight. And young people, this is one that you should have committed to memory, right? Remember your creator in the days of your youth. Now, where is that located? Well, you know, that’s in the last chapter. Well, if you don’t, you’re going to know now. It’s in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes. That’s how it begins. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Remember your creator in the days of your youth. But what I want to focus on is what follows that admonition. Remember your creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come. And the years draw near when you will say, I have no delight in them. I don’t know what struck me about this several weeks ago, but I remember on a Wednesday night writing it down in the back of my Nature of God book during the invitation.

I think somebody might have referenced this verse. And I said, I want to explore that further. What does it mean? Before the evil days come. Obviously, now let’s get the point that he’s making. Solomon’s wisdom is straightforward here. Choose the path of wisdom. Choose the path of worship and obedience towards your creator in your youth. He would further recommend at the end, fear God and keep his commandments. Because this is, as the King James Version says, the whole duty of man, the New American Standard says, because this applies to every person. This is man’s all is the idea. This is what makes a man whole and complete. Fear God and keep his commandments because this applies to every person, and you’re going to stand before God in judgment.

He goes on to say in the final verse of Ecclesiastes. Act upon the window of opportunity, and do not put it off. Whatever you do not silence the conscience when it tells you to respond to the will of God. Do not silence it. Do not put it off. Do not turn off the switch. Listen, respond while there’s time. Before the evil days come. Exactly is that. Well, when I was younger and I first started preaching, I didn’t know. And now I do. I think I get it. And there are several things involved in regard to the evil days coming in our life. Let me tell you what happens with the passing of time. There are, and they occur in the lives of every person. The open wounds of life’s travails.

I said open wombs. That happens too. And that’s a part of life’s travails, actually. The open wounds, however, of life’s travails. Everybody experience life in a different way. Different circumstances are going to beset your life. But there are going to be difficult days. There are going to be troubles. And those things affect you. Although I’m not sure that’s all that’s involved, or maybe even the primary thing involved in that phrase, before the evil days come. I’ve experienced this. As you get older, the energy that you might have available, the vigor of youth to respond and to take something and go gung ho with it when you’re young, that wanes over time. And again, I know I’m speaking to a primarily younger audience, some are excluded, but a primarily younger audience that you’ve not experienced this yet, and that perhaps affects someone not responding in their older years to remember their creator.

But I think there’s one more thing, and this might be the most significant of all.

Young people are more open to new ideas and to new things and to new challenges and changes. Haven’t you all known of older people, perhaps grandparents, who sort of like things a certain way. They have a routine and they go about that routine every day. And they don’t like interruption or change to the routine. Now I don’t know about Sister Hattie, and she doesn’t really like me to mention her from the pulpit, but I just got to, because she went on a trip this week. I said, Hattie went out of state. She’s open to the idea of change. That’s awesome. But most of us, we don’t like that too much as we get older. We like doing things the same way. And this is going to require us to do some things differently.

And so perhaps that’s a large reason. There might be other reasons. You thought of something, but there’s something about the passing of time that negatively affects the decision to embrace the remembrance of your creator. You’ve heard the term midlife crisis, haven’t you? Again, some of you are not old enough to go through that. What’s that all about? There must be a term, it must be a phrase for a reason. People go through a midlife crisis. What’s that about? We see time passing. The dreams that we had, perhaps for our lives, have come and gone. Life is deemed unsatisfying or disappointing. Perhaps people feel unfulfilled. It might lead to a change in occupation. Or worse, it might lead to immorality. To spice up what is seen as a boring, routine sort of existence.

Something about the sheer passing of time, and this is the point of the lesson, something about the sheer passing of time can negatively affect our thinking and our perspective. And that’s the only thing that makes sense when you look at the story of, for example, King Asa in the Old Testament. I shared some thoughts with you regarding Asa earlier this year since I presented a lecture about him at Florida College in February. And I’ve been thinking about him a lot ever since. An intriguing Old Testament character. He starts off with such faith and trust in God. He faces the Ethiopian army of a million men by going before the Lord and asking for him to deliver him and deliver his people from their adversaries. It’s a wonderful prayer in 2 Chronicles chapter 14.

And yet, despite that deliverance and all of the reforms of 20 plus years, actually, it’s 30 plus years, that he begins to encounter spiritual difficulty. Begins to be concerned about the king of Israel, Basha, to the north of him, and enlists the service of another foreign king to help him with Basha instead of turning to the Lord like he did with the Ethiopians years earlier. And then when God sends him a prophet or a seer to remind him of this, and he makes that wonderful statement the Lord’s eyes look to and fro throughout the earth to strongly support those whose hearts are completely his. And the whole point of that, we often use that verse to say that’s the kind of people we need to be.

But the whole point of that was that’s not the kind of person Asa was. He used to be that. And the seer says, You’ve acted foolishly in this. And that you have not relied on the Lord your God, and from now on you’re going to have wars. And I’m thinking about what’s happened to this great warrior of faith who was on the cusp of spiritual greatness. Could have been mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11. I mean, it was that awesome what he did. And he was one of those good kings that we talk about of Judah. What happened to Asa? You know, he didn’t quit worshiping Jehovah. He was still a regular at the temple. He did not depart from that all of his days. The text makes point of that.

In 2 Chronicles chapter 15. But something happened to Asa over the passing of time. It happened to King Joash, who was preserved from his wicked grandmother Atheliah, whom I mentioned in passing this morning by Jehoidah and Jehoshaphat. He is the boy king. He serves the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest who had raised him. And yet, in his latter years, even persecutes a prophet and puts him to death, the son of Jehoidah. Who had done kindness to him. And then there’s Uzziah, and time would fail me to talk about Isaiah tonight. What happens to all these guys? Guys that were righteous kings and leading God’s people in the right way, but something has happened to them. Well, we’ve all experienced it. And we should learn the lesson.

The excitement of something. The newness of something. It’s fresh, it’s beautiful. But then it loses its luster. It loses the attraction it once had to us. I talked to you several years ago, and many of you weren’t even here then. And this is the closest I’m going to come to repeating a sermon over the last five and a half years that I’ve been here. But I want to remind you of some things I said three years ago. And I want to do it under the title that I use then when the newness wears off. Because I think that’s what happens to us in the passing of time. And because the newness wears off, our perspective about that changes. And as our life goes on, the newness about that.

Look at all the changes that happen in children’s lives as they grow into adulthood. And then it sort of becomes routine, doesn’t it? You finally land the dream job or a job that pays the bills and makes ends meet, and then you sort of get usually in that rut for whatever it is, for however long. And again, those dreams, those things you thought might like life might turn into, well, some of those fizzle and go up in flames. And then and then it’s the everyday, ordinary routine. That you’re left with. Let me tell you about some things you need to remember as that process inevitably unfolds. Let’s go back earlier in the book of Ecclesiastes. Listen, young people, mark these verses. Chapter 1 and verse 8.

The eye is not satisfied with seeing, and the ear is not filled with hearing. And from that, Solomon launches out into trying to fill the senses with everything that was available in his time. Everything that he could see, everything that he could hear. He tried music, he tried sensual, physical attractions. He tried everything. And he says, you never fill it up completely. And I think that’s one of the things you learn about life. And that’s one of the reasons why it becomes a little bit stale and disappointing to us is that you never ultimately get filled up on the inside from all the things of this world. More on that at the end. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, the ear is not filled with hearing.

And when Solomon has that experience in chapter 2, where he talks about all the things that he tried, he comes to the conclusion and says, you know what I got out of it? What I got out of it. It’s vanity and striving after wind. You can try to find meaning for life in those things, but it’s all temporary and ultimately unsatisfying. Chapter 5 and verse 10, another verse to mark, chapter 5 and verse 10. How about the pursuit of money and all the things money can do, the cars it can buy, the houses that it can buy, all the fun that can be had if you have a little bit of money. He who loves money will not be satisfied with it. Or he who loves income with its abundance.

1. It Is Not About the Seen but the Unseen

This too is vanity. Listen to a man who had more materially than you’ll ever have. So let me tell you when the newness wears off of something, what you need to remember. Number one, it is not about the seen. It is about the unseen. That’s what life. And that’s what really the preacher is telling us in the book of Ecclesiastes when he’s saying, Remember your creator in the days of your youth and conclude for your God and keep his commandments. Ultimately, life only makes sense in this world if you will not look below the sun, but look above the sun. To your creator. And employ yourself in his service. And do so while there’s time and opportunity. It’s always about the unseen. As Paul would say, we do not look to the things which are seen, because the things which are seen are temporal.

They’re short-lived. They don’t last. But the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 18. We must train ourselves to keep focused on the unseen. And what is often the case, the reason why the evil days come is we lose focus. That’s what happened to Asa. He’s not thinking about the unseen realm like he once was.

David says in Psalm 39 make me to know how transient or short lived I am. My life. It’s short. It’s but a hand breadth. It’s not very long at all. And remember, as he says this and realizes this in the passing of time in his life, that was 3,000 years ago, folks. David’s been gone a long time. And he says, people that aren’t considering this truth, he says, they make an uproar for nothing. And sometimes I can’t help but see our world through that phrase. It’s a big hooplaw about nothing. Things that ultimately won’t last, won’t provide immortality, and won’t ultimately satisfy people. And that’s what they live their life for. You are a big step ahead of the rest of the population if you realize it’s about the unseen and not about the same.

There’s a second observation. Oh, before I get back to that. Oh, I just got a preview. One more thing I don’t want to miss. I have a list of quotes that are from Derek Kidner, who’s a great commentator, and he likes to say things really well in a short space, and this is in my top five of Derek Kidner quotes. As he talks about Psalm 39, he says very succinctly, David is decrying the fatal insufficiency of all that is earthbound. I’ve told you that quote before, but I love it. Understand, if you’re going to focus, if you’re going to move God out of the equation and not remember your creator in the days of your youth, I just don’t have time for that. Too many restrictions involved, too much effort involved, too many sermons by Tony I have to listen to.

Yeah, thank you for the giggle.

2. Newness Wears Off in Marriage

Understand. All that is earthbound is insufficient. Fatally insufficient. Now the second point newness wears off. Hmm. Let’s talk about marriage for a minute. Those of you that have been married for over two decades, and I made it that I made that the benchmark because I’m in that category. Hmm. Life is a lot different in regard to marriage than it was that day we set our vows, isn’t it? You know, there is so much focus, so much attention, so much time, so much planning that’s placed on the actual wedding day and the honeymoon. And it’s going to be a great experience, glorious experience. Maybe marriage should start this way, yes. But that’s very short. All this planning, it seems like that day’s never gonna get here. It finally gets here, you have this big event, the honeymoon.

Guess what follows? Real life. No, it’s not utter misery. That’s what you thought is good. No, that’s not it. Real life happens after that. And it happens, and it happens, and it happens. And what you come to realize that it’s more than just about this big event that happened.

It’s about working together as a team and working through some of those travails that I mentioned by way of introduction. And there’s gonna be good times and bad times, yes, in this relationship. You know, the average in love experience is said to last on the average about two years. That’s when it doesn’t matter what they do, really. I mean, you’re in love. You can overlook a lot because I get that flutter in my heart. Average two years. Dean and Desney. Sorry. Two years. And then you realize it’s about a commitment I’ve made to somebody. It’s about somebody that I need to put first above all other people. Second only to my relationship to God. And whatever it is that comes our way, and there’s a lot of junk.

3. Identifying With Local Churches

There’s a lot of hardship, a lot of sleepless nights, or at least not as much sleep as we would like. We’re going to stick this out. Because that’s what our God tells us to do. And it’s good. Because he tells us to do it. When the newness wears off, you need to remember. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Psalm 127 and verse 1. And we’ve got to put this institution foremost in our minds and carry out God’s will for it. Thirdly, let’s talk about identifying with local churches. Let’s talk about building a building. We’ve had some discussions about that here. Have you not noticed ours is getting a little small? What are we going to do about that? Still up in the air about that.

But I remember when we were in Baytown. And we were exceeding limits on the building that we started in. They’ve been there for 50 years. Hard to get some people who’ve been there for 50 years. Remember when I talked about routines and habits? Hard to get people who’ve been there for 50 years to think about going somewhere else and building a new building, especially one that cost a million dollars, and you went through the Great Depression. There was so much excitement. I remember this. Some of these young people that are here now were with us at that time. I remember the excitement of that. I remember September 9th, 2011. 2001. When we moved into the new building 13 years ago. Yes, that was two days before September 11th.

I remember the excitement of that day. I remember the unity of that group of people and the wonderful body that we had. And that was a new era for us. There was so much excitement and enthusiasm. Okay. That was just 13 years ago. Do you think people walk into that building now and go, ooh, ah, wow, this is great. That work is not what it was 13 years ago. They’ve had some travails. They’ve had some leadership issues. There’s still some good people serving the Lord in that place, but that work is not what it was. That excitement enthusiasm. You know, things don’t stay the same. We’ve experienced that in just the five and a half years that I’ve been here. We have gone through some experiences together.

Some have been difficult. Things can happen that change local churches forever.

And so I want to tell you, those of you that are identifying with us or have come to us in recent days, and this is all new and fresh, and hey, the preaching’s not too bad, and the singing’s really good. What about when the newness wears off? It’s not about the place. It’s not about the man. It’s about serving God among his people, doing our part. It’s about this message of truth that we need to be committed and devoted to. And I want to tell you, as we go along and the newness wears off of all of these things, we need to remember that we did not sign on for a 100-yard sprint. What you realize when you get into this business of Christianity is that this is not the 100-meter dash.

Did I sign up for a marathon? That’s what it feels like. For the life of me, I don’t understand why people want to run marathons, but they do. Have a good friend of mine in Cincinnati, just a few years younger than me, that just ran his first marathon. Are you nuts? That’s 26 miles. But I didn’t know if you can run five miles and you can get past that hurdle and do that routinely. They said 26 is easy after that. I’m not sure if I’m really buying into all that. But you know, Christianity is not the 100-meter dash. It’s a marathon. Oh, I know there are the 11th hour laborers that we read about in the book of Matthew that come on at the last minute and they receive the same reward.

But a lot of us, especially if you do what Solomon says, remember your creator in the days of your youth, it’s going to be many years of service. I tell you, I see things a lot differently than I did when I signed on to this over three days ago.

Conclusion

I have struggles that I didn’t perceive and see 35 years ago that I deal with now. If you have the kind of faith that will sustain you for the long haul. And no matter what comes your way. It’s not about here. Remember, here, all is vanity and striving after wind. If you’re going to put all of your hope in this, it’s short-lived and does not last. It’s not about here, but heaven. And it’s not about here, it’s about hearing. Hearing the will of God and doing it in our lives. I want to conclude with a passage in chapter 3. When the newness wears off, we need to remember that we were made for more than we now see. When the newness wears off, we need to remember that everything of this world will leave us unfulfilled, wanting and empty.

Even relationships. As fulfilling as God intends them to be, not miserable, marriage, relationships in the local church, they have their limits. And yet some people place all of their hopes in relationships. They have their purpose, but they also have their limits. Why? Because again, we are made for more than what we now see. And that is demonstrated in the statement of Ecclesiastes 3 and verse 11 when he says, He has made everything appropriate in his time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I’ve got to tell you, I’m still struggling with what Solomon is saying in this verse. I’m going to get it figured out one day.

I’m going to keep working on it. The part I’m most confident about is that phrase, eternity in our hearts. We were made ultimately for something beyond this world. There is a mechanism that God created within us that makes us unfulfilled with this world. And only in him can we find fulfillment. And that’s ultimately true because in the presence of God there is fullness of joy and pleasures forever. Psalm 16 and verse 11. But I ran across a quote that I like a whole lot. And it’s again Derek Kidner. As he talks about this section, and this statement of verse 11 actually flows out of all of the things that he’s just mentioned, which are really the stuff of life, are they not? There’s a time for everything under heaven.

There’s a time to give birth, and that’s an exciting time. And then there’s a time to die. There’s a time to plant, and there is a time to uproot what is planted. There is a time to kill, and there is a time to heal. He goes in verse 4 to say there’s a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. And so he talks about life. He sees the whole canopy of life and says, There’s these wonderful moments, and there’s these sad and awful moments in life. What sense do we make of this?

Here’s what Kidner says. We catch these brilliant moments. But even apart from the darkness interspersed with them, they leave us unsatisfied for lack of any total meaning that we can grasp. We long to see them in their full context. For we know something of eternity. Enough, at least, to compare the fleeting with the forever. He says, like the desperately nearsighted, itching their way along the great tapestry or fresco in the attempt to take it in. We see enough to recognize something of its quality. But the grand design escapes us. The incomprehensibility is dismaying. But man of no faith is doing it in the void. Something transcends our immediate situation. But we can never stand back far enough to see from the end. I like that. As we look at the tapestry of life, we desperately want to know what everything means?

But we can’t know that because we are not God. God makes everything beautiful in its time. All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. But it’s difficult for us when we are in pain. When we are finding ourselves in some kind of rut that we can’t seem to get out of when life has disappointed us, when people have disappointed us, when we’re experiencing emotional and physical or perhaps even spiritual pain. We can’t see the whole tapestry of things. But what we have to be reminded of is that we were made for more than we see. And we find our meaning and purpose in the things of God and our dedication to them no matter what. I gotta tell you, if football is all there is, that’s a disappointment.

That came to me yesterday for some reason. What is there in this world that truly satisfies you long term. Only God can fill the vacuum in your soul. Don’t ever forget that. Don’t ever lose sight of that as the evil days come in your life. And so the message is if you’ve not remembered God by fearing him and keeping his commandments, and you know you need to do that, you need to respond. Don’t silence that. Serve God among his people. This is as good as it gets on this side of eternity. This is a glimpse or foretaste of what will be perfect in the presence of God. And let’s live for that. And if you’re subject to his invitation, come now as we stand and sing.