How Shall The Young Remember Their Creator?

Introduction

Our sessions this weekend are going to be a little more informal. I want to do them like we would have a Bible class where we will have input from you, and you feel free to ask questions or make comments and have more of a discussion-based study than a preaching or lecture. You need to be thankful for your parents and the leadership here for scheduling a weekend like this. You know, we have gospel meetings, and even when we have lessons for young people in a gospel meeting, those are generally to benefit the adults of the congregation. And we may have things like a vacation Bible school for the younger kids. But I want you to see that the elders planned this just for you, for the teenagers.

And so be thankful for that and make the most of it as we begin tonight. I have a virus program on my computer, an antivirus program, that’s always updating. In fact, every time I boot up my laptop, I hear this message. A vast virus database has been updated. And I like that because I want to make sure that my computer is secure from the most late the latest, most newest attacks that might come and steal my files away. But did you know that some people think of the Bible that way? That it needs to be constantly updated or revised to fit where we are. In fact, many young people might say, well, the Bible was good for the time it was written, but it just doesn’t have anything to say about where I am right now.

It doesn’t apply to my life. All these current issues that we see where people are battling against the word of God, and the common idea is the Bible just doesn’t fit where we are anymore. But I want you to notice that the Lord speaks specifically to you in several passages where it’s obvious that he has you in mind in truths that will last a lifetime. For instance, we won’t look these up, but I want you to when I begin the verse, you fill in the blank and just say it out loud. We just sang the song from which or came out of this verse in Psalm 119. How can a young man keep his way pure? asked the psalmist, by keeping it according to thy word.

1 Timothy chapter 4 in verse 12, let no one look down or despise your youthfulness. Timothy was the young preacher, we call him. He was preaching things that were very hard for some people to hear. He was preaching about the qualifications of elders and modest clothing for women, and Paul said, Don’t any let anyone look down on you just because you’re young. In 2 Timothy 2 and verse 22, flee what kind of lusts? Youthful lusts. Now, what are some other Bible verses that come to mind when you think God’s speaking directly to young people? Other than these, which other ones come to your mind?

Okay. That’s going to be our theme passage for tonight. Remember your creator when? In the days of your youth. Alright, what else? Yes, your role in the home. Honor your father and your mother. Children, do what? Obey your parents in the Lord. Steve Garrett just said, Amen. Now, these are verses that all speak to where you are. I want you to see when you’re reading these passages, I want you to see that the Lord is looking directly at you and say, This is for you right now. So he doesn’t overlook young people because you’re important. And that tells us that we have special responsibilities that come with this time of our life. This weekend we’re going to be looking at how we can serve God better in our youth in these areas.

Tonight, we’re going to look at, remember your creator in the days of your youth. Tomorrow morning, how shall the young walk by faith? Is it inferior for us to say we walk by faith and not by sight? That’s going to cause some to say, well, you’re just blindly leading the blind. Is that something reasonable for today? We’ll find that out in the morning. And then tomorrow, how shall the young be a friend? You have great power of influence at this time of your life. Sunday, how shall the young honor your father and mother? Now, that one was specifically chosen for that hour, because for most of you, your parents will also be in the audience. And so that’s going to be something for both of us.

And then Sunday morning, how shall the young flee immorality? That is sexual immorality. And then finally, how shall the young view entertainment? Since we are the age of entertainment, what are our responsibilities with that regard? So we’ll look at those things this weekend, but I want you to see these have all been planned just for you. Alright, well, let’s turn then to Ecclesiastes chapter 11. And I need a volunteer to read verse 9 of chapter 11 through verse 1 of chapter 12. Ecclesiastes 11 9 through 12 1. Do you have that, Paul? Forgot your Bible. Well, we’re off to a good start, aren’t we? Does anybody have an extra Bible? I’d give you mine, but I think I may need it.

I’ll share.

I even turned the light back. I didn’t know if Steve knew where that was. Okay.

Alright, will you read for us? Everybody there. Resort to young man, pray your childhood. And let your heart before he through the days of the old man.

You know that God will bring you to judgment from all days. So remove the anger from your heart. Put away a pain for your body. Because childhood is the final life. Remember also your creators that you believe in the days of Jesus. What the evil days come.

Okay. Thank you. Very good. Now, when Solomon wrote this, it is most likely that he was in the older days of his life, and he was looking back on a youth that was at times misspent. And so I want you to see the wise man has a lot of wisdom to share to tell you when you’re a young person, you need to remember some things. You have responsibilities that God’s going to hold you accountable for in this very important time of life. Now, I use what I sometimes call the Babylonian version, and that gives me license to spell words differently. Sometimes I think the days of your youth, that is here in verse one. sometimes that could be spelled D-A-Z-E, the days of your youth.

Why do I say that? Because this can be a very confusing time of your life. Doesn’t it seem like right now everything is changing? Your body is changing. And there are times when you feel like you walk in a room, and I’m not saying this is what happens, but you feel like everybody’s watching every move you make. It’s it’s almost like they’re just waiting for you to trip and fall, and they’ll all laugh at you or make some mistake. And the world just seems to be going faster and faster, and you begin to think, well, there’s nothing I can hold on to. There’s nothing that’s ever going to be the same. Everything’s changing. It is the days of your youth. Solomon said that there are certain things you can hold on to that you can have confidence will never change because they are truths that are eternal.

1. Remember Whose You Are

And we’re going to look at three of those that we find in this passage that our young brother just read for us. The first thing that you can remember during this time of your life, even though it’s a confusing, difficult time. Number one, remember whose you are. Not remember who you are, but whose W H O S E. Remember whose you are. He said, remember your creator. That tells you that you have a very special connection, and that is to God. In an age where people have tried to separate themselves from God’s creation, Solomon said, in this very confusing time, you don’t forget that God made you. You belong to Him. And that alone makes you someone very special. Remember whose you are.

Okay, so accidental death. What else? Heart disease. That’s always in the top three. Heart disease. Yes. What else? Cancers in the top three every year. What else? Okay.

Usually among the top ten is homicide. What’s homicide? What does that mean? Yes, someone who gets murdered. But almost every year there are more suicides than homicides. You think about how much we protect ourselves from getting killed. We’ll buy a gun, we’ll buy a dog, we’ll get an alarm, we’ll lock the doors because we’re afraid that somebody might come into our house at night and harm us. But there are more people in our country year after year who are killing themselves than being killed. Because they’ve forgotten whose they are.

God made you. He could have made you any way he wanted to make you, anytime he wanted to make you, but he made you right here, right now. Remember whose you are. Your creator gave you, I want to highlight these three things. Number one, your creator gave you your looks.

He gave you your hair color, your skin color, your height, your depth. God made you just like he wanted to make you. Recent survey indicated that 99% of women were dissatisfied with how they looked. 99%. The other 1% were found to be liars. 99%. And there’s no room for men to be elbowing the women because 96% of men are dissatisfied with how they look. Let me tell you’re just going to have to take that up with the Lord. You know, I used to be a little self-conscious about being vertically challenged until I realized there’s not anything I can do about it. This must be the way God wanted me to look. And so the best thing I know to do is just be the best 5’10 Christian that I can be.

Because God could have made me 6’4 if he wanted me 6’4.

Remember whose you are. You were created in his image. Isn’t that enough?

Number two, God gave you your talents. We often speak of God given ability. Well, God gave you and blessed you with certain talents. Isn’t it amazing how much time we will spend envying what he gave somebody else instead of using what he gave me to his glory. Remember whose you are. God gave you your talents. And so you use those for him. That doesn’t mean you can’t learn to do other things and get better at other things, but take what God gave you and give it back to him. Serve him with these things. They’re from Him. You need to honor Him with your talents. And God gave you your family. You think about all the families that are in the world. God gave you your mother and your father.

As we’ll study later this weekend, there are some relationships where we have the power of choice, where we get to choose who we’re around. Our friend and our spouse. We choose that. But for your family, God decided. He gave you your mother, your father, your grandparents, and I know you don’t want to hear this. He gave you your brothers and sisters too. And so you learn to love them and you learn to appreciate them because one day you’re going to be on your own and you’ll be starting your own family. But while you have them, you rejoice and you thank God and show him your appreciation for remembering whose you are. You belong to God. He created you. You don’t forget that.

And what I mean by real date is that I drove. I picked her up. I paid for half. Oh. But I tell you what I remember more about my first real date was something that my mother said to me before I left the house. I was getting in the car and she was watching from the front porch. And she just had that last bit of advice she wanted to give me before I went on my first real date. I was just about to slam the car door shut, and the last thing she said was, remember who your father is. And to my memory, that’s the only time she ever said it that way. Now she had said before, remember who you are. But remember who your father is.

2. Remember When You Are

I knew that she wasn’t talking about the guy watching football from whom I just borrowed 20 bucks. She meant you’re about to go on another relationship tonight. You remember who you’re connected to. Remember whose you are. And all the things that are changing in your life right now, you don’t forget where you came from. And that’s from God. He’s your father. He made you. Remember your creator. Well, let’s look at a second thing that Solomon said you need to remember during this confusing days of life. Not only do you remember whose you are. Notice that he said, remember your creator, and when did he say to do that? In the days of your youth. Now, what that means is when you get older, you don’t have to remember your creator anymore, right?

Just right now. And when you get older, don’t worry about doing that anymore. No, he said, remember when you are. That if you’re a young person who makes it a priority to stay connected to God, then you will most likely be an older person who stays connected to God. The days of your youth is indeed a very special time of life. It’s not a time to be thrown away. Sometimes we get this idea that young people are just going through a phase. They’re sowing their wild oats or they’re getting it out of their system. And if we’ll just leave them alone, eventually they’ll get old enough to where they’ll grow out of it. Well, the only problem with that is the Bible doesn’t make excuses for young people that way.

In fact, it goes to great lengths to describe some characters who were young and still made righteous choices. For instance, let’s turn to 1 Samuel chapter 2 and verse 26. Keep your marker here in Ecclesiastes 12. But I need a volunteer to read 1 Samuel 2 and verse 26. Who has that? Okay, go ahead. Now the voice Daniel was drawing his stature and in favor, both of the Lord and his mother. Okay, now the what? The boy, Samuel, was growing in stature. Wouldn’t that be nice? He was growing in stature and in favor, both with who? The Lord and with men. Now, some people think you’ve got to choose one or the other. That in order to be popular with men, you’re going to have to do things that God doesn’t approve of.

Or if you’re going to be a good person, be a Christian, you might as well just be some weirdo that nobody else is going to like. But I want you to see that the boy Samuel was growing in stature, both with favor in favor with the Lord and with men. Now, what other Bible character is described? Not in those exact words, but pretty similar. Who does that remind you of?

Good guess.

He was about twelve years old, and not much else is said about his childhood, but this verse comes out and talks about him growing in these areas. Yes. In Luke 2 and verse 52, we read that Jesus was growing not only physically, but mentally, spiritually, socially. Okay. Then in Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8. Remember that Daniel was a young man who was taken into captivity from his home to Babylon to serve the enemy of his people, King Nebuchadnezzar and his court. And it would have been very easy for Daniel, as a young person, to blame God for his circumstances, or even say, Well, I’m so far away from home, I might as well do what I want to do and get something out of it.

But I want you to notice what it said about Daniel in chapter one and verse eight, and who has that for us? Okay, go ahead. But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice of food or with wine which he drank. So he sought permission from the commander of the official that he might not. Alright, thank you. Very good. Daniel made up his mind. Now you know what it means, hopefully, to make up your bed in the morning when you get up. He made up his mind. He decided. He did not wait until he was in the moment to say, Well, what am I going to do? Am I going to serve God or am I going to serve the king?

He made up his mind first. But again, he was most likely a teenager in captivity when he did that. The Bible talks about young people who remembered when they were. Who are some other young persons in the Bible that are mentioned as examples for us today? Can you think of any? What other young people served God?

All right. As we said, the young preacher and used his gifts to glorify God. Good. Who else? Oh, we had a hand back here, but she chickened out. Okay. She’s also four. All right, who else? Yes, sir. Alright, tell us about him.

About age 16, he’s breaking down Bible.

All right. Josiah, how many of you are 16 years old on the number? Anybody? Okay. Less than 16? What are we? Fifteen? How old are you? Fourteen. Okay. Can you imagine taking a stand at your age against a whole nation and saying, I know we’ve been serving idols, but those are coming down today. Can you imagine doing that? Josiah did that. And he started purging the land of Judah from all those pagan influences. Okay. Who else? How about a young boy who was sold into slavery? Yes, Joseph, who was handsome in form and appearance and was being propositioned day after day by Potiphar’s wife. Call her the original desperate housewife. But day after day, she was trying to get him to lie with her. And you remember what he said?

How could I do this great evil? We might get caught.

How could I do this great evil and what? Sin against God. Remember when you are. Just because you are young does not mean that you don’t have to serve God. You need to be very careful about playing the waiting game. You know what that is? It’s the game that says, Well, since I’m young right now, I’m going to wait till I get older. And then when I’m more mature, then I’m going to develop these good habits that I know I ought to be doing. And then I’ll start serving God. You know what that becomes? Well, I’m going to wait till I finish school because I’m so busy with tests and reports and my grades. And once that gets done, I’m going to start serving the Lord.

Well, that becomes, well, maybe when I get married, this is something my spouse and I can do together, and we’ll serve the Lord as husband and wife. And then we’ll wait until we have kids because we want to be a good example for them. We want them in Bible class. And then it’s going to be after the job gets finished, and then it’s going to be right before you die. Remember when you are. How many of you right now are very busy? Absolutely. You have school, you have a band, you have sports, you most likely have chores at home. Some of you may be looking toward getting a job, and all of these things are a competition for your time. Guess what? It gets even busier.

Because then you’ll have a house to maintain and cars to keep running and hours in demand at the office and children you have to raise and bring them up. If you’re too busy to serve God right now, what will you do then? Remember when you are. Now is the time to make the worship services non negotiable. Your friends say, We’re getting together to study for the big test Wednesday night. You say, Well, I’ve got something else I’ve got to study for. Employer says, Well, we need you to work Sunday. You say, No, I’m not available then. I put that on my application when I apply. Now is the time to get into the habit of preparing your Bible lesson. Again, you’ll do that for class. We’ll stay up all night long to cram for some exam, but then we just don’t have time to get our Bible lesson done.

Remember when you are. Now is the time you can be an influence. Think about all those people you have influence over at school on your team and in your classes to show them where the true light is, and that is being God’s child. Remember when you are. A teenager who does not remember their creator in the days of their youth is on the road to be an adult who has no time for God outside of you. So you need to remember whose you are, and then number two, you need to remember when you are.

3. Remember Where You Are Going

Number three, remember where you are going. Remember whose you are, remember when you are, remember where you are going. Turn back to Ecclesiastes where we begin, and notice verse 11 or chapter 11, verse 9. Rejoice, young man during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood, and follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. God wants you to rejoice in your youth. Do you believe that? God wants you to rejoice. How many people think of God as some hard taskmaster who somehow derives pleasure from our misery, who wants us to go through life fearful and complaining and bitter about all the responsibilities he’s given us. God does not want you to be a Christian that way.

God wants you to rejoice in your youth. He is not a killjoy who delights in depriving you of pleasure. That’s Tony’s job. God wants you to be happy.

The verse continues, yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. He wants you to rejoice, but he also wants you to remember the judgment. My kids have discovered the game Monopoly. I mean, we had it hidden way in the back of the closet, and they found it. And they want to play it almost every night. And one of the most coveted cards that you can draw in Monopoly is the get out of jail free. You remember that one? I mean, you don’t have to miss a turn. You don’t have to miss passing go and collecting $200. You get in jail and then you’re out free of charge. Again, there are some people who think of the days of their youth that way.

I can do what I want because I’m not going to be held accountable. I don’t have to answer for these things. I can live however I want to live, and I won’t have to face God in the judgment about these things. But again, notice you rejoice in your youth, but you remember God will bring you to judgment for these things. Remember where you are going.

Right now, you’re 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and we automatically assume when we’re that age that we’re going to live to 86, 87, 88. We’ll be driving in the car, the four of us, and the kids will ask Melissa to pass them something in the back seat. And sometimes Melissa say, no, you can’t hold that while we’re in the car. We could have a wreck. And at first I kind of took that personally. You know, I’m driving over here. What’s she trying to say about my driving? But who leaves their house in the morning and thinks, you know, I might get in a wreck today? Who leaves their house and says, well, I don’t even know if I’m going to come home when I’m finished doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

And so don’t think that just because you’re in the days of your youth that automatically you will reach the days of old age. Remember where you are going. That means you constantly keep that in front. What is the danger of saying, I’m going to wait till I’m older to obey the Lord? Why is that such a dangerous outlook on life?

Okay, there is the possibility that we may not live as long as we think. But what if we do live to be 85 and 90 years old? Why is it still dangerous to forget where you’re going and live your youth as if you won’t have to give an account? Why is that so dangerous?

Yes. You develop habits, don’t you? You’re building your character. You’re shaping who you are in the days of your youth. And so you constantly think about where do I want to be when I’m 40, 50, or 60. Young men, is serving as a deacon or an elder something that you aspire to even now? Then you need to think about that as you’re planning the days of your youth. Ladies, what kind of man do you want to be married to when you’re older? Well, do you think that kind of man that you’ve picked out is going to be attracted to someone who has misspent their youth and is not prepared themselves for him? Remember where you are going. In the end, we will all stand before God.

Look at the last two verses of Ecclesiastes 12, and let’s read those to bring this to a conclusion. Who will read verses 13 and 14? Okay, go ahead.

Okay, so what is the conclusion? Fear God and keep his commandments. Now, doesn’t that sound simple? I mean, you look at how difficult some people try to make the Bible when Solomon the wise man could have chosen every big word in the vocabulary to sum it all up. And what he said is, you want to know what life’s about. Fear God and keep his commandments. And notice who he said this applies to. For this applies to older people, right? To who? Every person. Nobody is out of view of this passage. Even when you’re in the days of your youth, you remember, fear God and keep his commandments. Why? For God will bring every act to judgment. Everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

We’re all going to the same place. So remember where you are going.

Conclusion

And she would always say, now, if you want to be called by something else than what I have on the roll, you tell me, and I’ll write it down, and we’ll call you that from this day forward. Well, I was dreading it because she would get down to the G’s and she would say, Gerald Garner. And I would raise my hand and say, Bubba. And everybody would laugh. But you know, there is coming a day when the role is going to be called. And I won’t care which name is printed in the Lamb’s book of life. Should the Lord decide to say, Well done, Gerald? Or well done, Bubba. I just want him to know who I am.

Because you know what the alternative is. Depart. I never knew you. Remember whose you are. You belong to him. Remember when you are. You’re in the days of your youth. Don’t fight that. Use that. Because you won’t have them back. And you remember where you’re going. Be certain that when the Lord calls your name, that he will say, Enter in to the joy that’s been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. You were created for this. For my good pleasure. Let’s sing another song. Sean, do you have one?

I have decided to follow Jesus.

I have decided to follow Jesus.

With me, I still will follow though none go with me, I still will follow, though none go with me, I still will follow no turning back, no turning back, my cross I’ll carry till I see Jesus. My cross I’ll carry till I see Jesus my cross I’ll carry till I see Jesus no turning back I’ll follow him.