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Ecclesiastes 12:1-13

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— 5they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— 6before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
9Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
11The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. 12My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

I. OUR PROBLEM WITH THE BIBLE (9)
A. Because we have a problem with God we have a problem with His Word and its claims.
B. The biggest problem is the Bible claims to be written by God, which means we can’t ignore it.
C. Solomon claims Ecclesiastes is written by God so we can’t ignore it.

II. THE BIBLE, BACON, BOWLING, & BUMPERS (10-11)
A. The Bible is a delight we get to enjoy not a duty we have to endure.
B. The Bible is like bumpers that keep us on track.
C. The Bible leads to a steadiness in life that is valuable.

III. COSMO AND OTHER FALSE GOSPELS (12-14)
A. Instead of delighting in God’s Word we weary ourselves with Cosmo.
B. We were created to delight in God and we do that now by delighting in His Word.

NEXT STEPS:
1. Make God’s Word your first priority first thing in the morning.
2. Don’t study problems, seek God.
3. There is no happiness apart from the Bible.