In Ephesians 6 the evil day is mentioned. What is the evil day? It is this time when God’s Man is rejected; He is up there in the glory. The whole of this time is the evil day. These dear little ones we see around us have a sinful nature, but they have not grown old in sin like some of us have, and the evil days do come.
Do you remember the Lord in His death at His table? Will you be there on the Lord’s Day for that purpose, if the Lord doesn’t come before? You know the Lord invites you, if you are saved, and it is normal Christianity to be at the Lord’s table. If you are saved and there is no open sin in your life, it is not normal if you are not at His table. He desires that you be there.
When the Lord instituted that memorial at the time of the last Passover in Matthew’s Gospel, when He came to the cup, He said to them, “Drink ye all of it.” When we get to Mark’s Gospel on the same occasion, He said, “They all drank of it.” It is your privilege, it is my privilege as a saved soul, walking in holiness of life, to be there as a witness in a memorial that Christ died. And it is an observance that He also lives, and He lives in His saints, His body. He wants that kind of a testimony.
“In the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” Don’t wait for a time in your life when you grow older, because Satan, the enemy of God’s people, will put other things in your mind and you may lose that desire to remember Him.
In Ecclesiastes 12:99And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. (Ecclesiastes 12:9) it says, “And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.” Have you read the book of Proverbs? It will guide you in the pathway down here in this world like no other book in the Bible or any other book.
“The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright”; that is God’s Word, which is always upright, “even words of truth.” I think this is just wonderful: words of truth. We have them in this Book. Do you search them out and make them your own? But above that, we have here that they were given from one shepherd. This is choice language found here in the Old Testament. Who is the one Shepherd? Our Shepherd is the Lord; He is over all. The Lord is just as strong in one assembly over there as He is here. He doesn’t need us running around to take care of other assemblies. He wants ministry flowing from His heart so that local saints will be directed to the one Shepherd. Isn’t it remarkable that this is the Old Testament?
“And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end.” You young people may wonder at the volumes of books that you have to get through in your studies, and we may enjoy reading books, but there is no end to it. “Much study is a weariness of the flesh” (vs. 12); yes it is. When we are in God’s school, we never get out of school; we learn all the time. I trust we learn more of Christ every day of our lives.
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God” (Eccl. 12:1313Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13); 1 Peter 2:1717Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. (1 Peter 2:17)). Do you do that? I think “Fear God” is the shortest sentence in the Bible. What a short statement of power. Don’t fear Satan. Don’t fear your brethren—love them, but fear God. “Keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Now there is going to be a time of judgment, but we are not to go around judging others now. In 1 Corinthians 417For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. (1 Corinthians 4:17) Paul says, “It is a very small thing that I should be judged of you.... He that judgeth me is the Lord.”
Here in the last verse of Ecclesiastes 12: “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing.” Oh yes, every secret of the heart is known to God, “whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” For the believer, some of those motives that produced a result that didn’t seem so good may be given a great reward at the judgment seat of Christ, for God knows “whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
C. Buchanan