I received a note this morning, first thing this morning, that was one of the shortest I've ever received from someone I've never met, never seen them as far as I know. I don't think I've ever even heard from them before. But this message was one of the most humbling and most encouraging I've ever received.

The gentleman wrote to me and said, Thank you for your articles. They are so very comforting to me, especially now that I know I'm dying with cancer. Everything looks different when you consider the end. Everything. Everything looks different.

And I want this evening, by the grace of God, to talk to you plainly as I possibly can about the end. My text is found in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 24 through 28. When everything that shall be has been, when everything that must be has come to pass, when all the will, purpose, desire, and pleasure of the triune God has been perfectly accomplished and fulfilled in all things and by all things. The scripture declares here, then cometh the end. Then cometh the end. When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Now let me show you four or five things that are obvious from this passage of scripture. First, if we would apply our hearts to wisdom, We must learn and constantly remind ourselves of this fact. Everything in this world is temporary and passing away. Everything. Everything.

Turn back a few chapters to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 29. The apostle is dealing with the matter of marriage and the relationship of a husband and wife and family situation. And it says in verse 29, But this I say, brethren, the time is short. The word means constricted. The time is pressed shortly. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not. And they that buy as though they possessed not. And they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world. The fashion of this world.

Now this is what that means. It's not talking about the kind of clothes you wear. It's not talking about your hairstyle currently. It's talking about everything that has to do with this present world. The fashion of this world, pass it away. It's right now in the process of being consumed. It is right now in the process of being consumed. As you set it in stoplight with your gas hand sitting almost on empty and the motors idling, your gas tank is running out. You're running out of gas. And this is what Paul says about this world. He says she's sitting on empty and she's passing away. The fashion of this world passeth away.

I wonder if we will ever learn that. Everything here is temporary. Time is not endless. This world is not eternal. Everything here has its beginning and has its end and it all comes to pass exactly as God has purposed it and as God brings it to pass. God Almighty made you for a specific purpose. And He made me for a specific purpose. And when His purpose is finished, we will be finished as far as our time in this world is concerned. Everything in this world has been ordained and has been brought to pass by the Lord our God according to his purpose of grace toward his elect and when God has accomplished his purpose with any specific thing or with any specific Individual he takes that thing or that individual out of this world

God's purpose shall be accomplished then cometh the end then our end Shall either be eternal bliss or eternal world We live in a world in which everything is different. Everything here is dying, growing old, decaying, and coming to an end. Oh, how blind that man is who doesn't understand that everything here is just a puff of air, just momentary.

all our property, all our talents, all our relationships, all our enjoyments, all our woes, all evil and all good, every opportunity for evil or for good is just temporary. Nothing temporal can ever satisfy an immortal soul. That's the reason men just reach and grab and reach and grab and reach and grab and get all they can and can't all they get and they're never satisfied because nothing here can satisfy your soul, nothing.

Yet we are all moving into a world in which everything is permanent and everlasting, everything. We are men and women created by God with immortal souls. We live in a world where everything constantly changes, but we're going to a world where nothing changes. We're rapidly moving to a world in which nothing ends. And that great unseen world which lies beyond the grave, whatever else it is and whatever else it is not, it is absolutely unchanging and eternal.

Paul said, we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen, everything you can see with your eye, everything you can apprehend with your mind, the things which are seen are typical. the things which are not seen. Those things that are beyond the vision of the eye and beyond the vision of the mind, those things are eternal. Set your mind and your heart on eternal things. Those are the things that matter.

I don't know what hell is, but my God, whatever it is, it's everlasting. That makes every breath important. That makes every breath significant. I don't know what heaven is. I don't know. I sometimes think maybe I got a little bit of a taste, but I don't know. I don't know what the glory of heaven is, but I know this. Whatever it is, Bobby, it's forever. It's forever. And that makes everything here vanity by comparison. everything.

I see men, grown men, men who seem to have some understanding about things, get so excited and so, so wrapped up in all the things of this world, you know, all the cares and all the joys and all the sorrows and all the things that go on around us. And I, I must confess, I myself am far too guilty. But when I see that, Bob, it kind of reminds me of the idea of a grown man sitting down in the sandbox playing with Tonka toys. You know, I expect to see Sammy's boy sitting in the sandbox playing with Tonka toys when the summertime comes. They just dig the ground and move it around and just play and have a good time. It's all irrelevant to him. He's just having a good time. He doesn't understand anything of importance. He's just a kid.

But my soul, we're grown men. It's time for us to get out of the sandbox. We ought to recognize the vanity of this world and the certainty and immortality of things everlasting. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? But what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? We raise our sons and daughters from the youth up, from the smallest childhood, taking great care with great concern to prepare them for everything in this world. I want them well educated, well dressed, well wed, well fed, well cared for in this world. And that's all proper. That's all proper. But when we get all those things settled, What have we done for their souls? What have we done for their souls? What have we done for our own?

Everything here is vanity. Only that which is eternal has any real meaning, significance, consequence and value. I've just said that. And I've read that statement so many times today, and I haven't begun to realize it. And my friends, I dare not presume that anyone here knows God. I dare not make that presumption. I want you to understand that Jesus Christ, the Lord alone, can prepare us for that great world that lies before us. The happiness or the misery, by request of your soul and mine, forever, depends on our relationship with the Son of God right now. And is in great measure, in total measure, insofar as our experience is concerned, it is dependent entirely upon our relationship with Christ.

I know folks say, well, we believe in God's sovereignty and predestination and election. I don't think you're going to find many folks who preach that any stronger than I do. I don't think you're going to find many folks who preach that any more dogmatically than I do. Now, whether that fits in with our scheme of things or whether it doesn't, this is so. Your relationship with the Son of God right now, right now will determine your relationship with God Almighty. He that believeth on the Son, what does scripture say? Hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth only hath everlasting life. Oh, may God give you grace then to believe on his Son.

Only the blood of Christ can wash away our sins. Mark pray just a little bit ago only the righteousness of Christ can give us acceptance with God Almighty Only faith in Christ can fetch to us the merits of his blood and his righteousness for the blessed experience of God's salvation Only the Spirit of God can give us that thing God help you then to hear what I've said Everything in this world is temporary Everything here is coming to an end Then who shall these things be? Stop and think about all that's concerned you today, Lindsay. All that's going through your mind, all the things of the day that concern you, taking up so much attention and care. I wonder what they will matter in the last hour. I urge you and myself For our soul's sakes, let us count nothing on this earth more valuable, more precious now than we will in the day when we must leave it.

I don't know who wrote this. I don't know whether I did or somebody else did, but I jotted this down a long time ago.

All things here will soon be past.
Heaven and hell alone will last.
Will you for trinkets of a day
eternally be cast away.
Immortal souls, can't you see?
All things here are vanity.
Should you gain the world store,
is it really worth your soul?
Set your heart on Christ alone.
Trust the work which he has done.
And when this world has passed away,
you'll never miss this melting clay.

All right, second Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, verse 18. If we would live peaceably in this world, we must learn while we live in this temporary state of existence that everything in this world, the beginning, the accomplishment, and the end of all things are of God. Do you see that? All things are of God. All things. What on earth does that include? Well, I think maybe it includes all things. All things in heaven and all things in earth and all things in hell. All things good and all things bad, all things prosperous and all things painful, all gladness and all sorrow, all things present and all things to come are of God.

Listen to this, Isaiah 46. We've read this so many times, but you can look at it again later. The Lord God speaks and says, Remember the former things of old for I'm God. There's none else. I'm God. There's none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning Saying and I'm sorry from ancient times the things that are not yet done say my counsel shall stand I will do all my pleasure God says I told you from the beginning that which would be in the end I declared it before the world began and I've revealed it to you and now I'm bringing to pass my counsel will stand I'm going to do all my pleasure

For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Now this is what this means. God Almighty has predestined everything that comes to pass according to the good pleasure of His will. Everything. It means that God who predestined all things has created all things that come to pass All things in time are made by his hand according to the good pleasure of his will So I don't understand that I don't either I don't even claim to understand it But I'm telling you God Almighty has made everything according to his will for his good pleasure and God rules all things Absolutely. Rules, controls, manipulates.

Well, that makes us robots. That's all right. Whatever it makes us, God Almighty rules this world. Absolutely. According to His will and for His good pleasure. And God disposes of all things. All men and all devils. things in time. God disposes of all things according to the good pleasure of his will, exactly as he has purposed from eternity.

Turn to Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16. I want you to read it. The Lord God predestined all things. He created all things. He rules all things. He disposes of all things Exactly according to the good pleasure of his will and he shall according to the good pleasure of his will have the praise of all things Look here in Proverbs 16 verse 4 The Lord hath made all things for himself Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil Everything everything How do you explain the Hitlers, and the Dalmers, and the Hussains, and the Pagans, and the Barbarians, and the cruelty of this world? How do you explain all that? God made all things for Himself, even the wicked, for the day of evil. And one of these days, He's going to show everybody how all things, including the wicked, give praise to Him.

In Ephesians 1 verse 11, the apostle tells us, In whom we also have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

All right, thirdly, I want you to see that the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, our dear Savior, must reign until the end comes. Turn back to our text in 1 Corinthians 15. The apostle says in verse 24, then cometh the end, when he, the Lord Jesus, shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

He must reign. Blessed be his name, that man, who lived and died for us as our mediator, surety, representative and substitute, that man who came here into this world as a man to save us, who is himself God Almighty, reigns now and must reign forever till he put all enemies under his feet. He sets yonder on the throne of glory and sets there with the peace and serenity of total dominion, with absolute confidence, knowing that soon all things shall be put under his feet.

He must reign. How come? Because he's God. He's God. He reigns because he's God. And a God who doesn't reign doesn't deserve the name God. That God who sits upon the throne of the universe and has his way in the heavens and the earth and in hell, he alone is God.

Thou hast given him power over all flesh as a man, a man who has earned the right to rule. Not only is he God the creator, but a man who's earned the right to rule over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. So the Lord Jesus ruled because he's God. And he rules because he's earned the right to rule as a man, as our mediator, having accomplished the purpose of God's grace toward us in himself.

And he must reign. Because the salvation of his elect and the glory of God himself depends upon his rule, his dominion, and his putting all things under his feet. He must reign because nobody can stop him. Nobody's going to prevent him. Who's going to keep him from having his way? Who's going to prevent the Son of God? from doing His will. Who's going to keep God Almighty from accomplishing His purpose? Why, that's absurd. That's absurd.

Our great and glorious Savior soon shall put down all rule, all authority, and all power forever. He'll put it down. Put it down. Put it down like an army comes and quelches a rebellion. Put it down like a worker puts down a tube. Put it down like a man lays down a weapon. He's going to put it all down. All of it. All civil rules. Civil authority and civil power. Democratic and Republican. All of it. He's going to put it down. Communist and democracy. He's going to put it down. All rules in this country and in all countries. All authority, all power. He's going to put it down. When he gets done with it, he'll put it down.

He's going to put down all domestic rule, authority and power. All ecclesiastical rule, authority and power. Shelby and I were talking just before services. This world seems to be under the utter, utter dominion and rule of ecclesiastical apostasy. The rule of the world. is the rule of free will, works, religion. The whole world thinks like that. The whole world's influenced. The whole world's governed by it. That's all right. That's all right. It's in his hands. And when he gets done, Baba, he's going to put it down. He's going to put it down.

He's going to put down all satanic, demonic, hellish rule, authority, and power. All of it. All of it. All the powers of hell which seem to have been unleashed upon this world, understand, have been unleashed. by the hand of God Himself according to His good pleasure and His purpose and righteousness. And when He gets done, He will put it down. He will put it down. The Lord Jesus Christ shall soon put all enemies under His feet. I like the way this is worded. All enemies. All His enemies. All of them. He will put down All who oppose him, men and demons and Satan himself, every thought and every principality and every power shall be put under his feet.

Not only that, but when he shall have put all enemies under his feet, he will put down all our enemies as well and put them under our feet. When he who is the head as all enemies under his feet." That means Paul went over the whole body of Christ as all his enemies under their feet. Satan, the God of peace, shall bruise him under your feet shortly. Sin, he'll put under your feet. I don't know how. I can't begin to guess. But somehow, some way, At that day appointed by God Almighty, we shall see that sin and Satan, being put under the feet of the Son of God, have done nothing except accomplish His purpose and His glory in the end for our everlasting glory. Everything. Everything.

But you surely don't believe that. I believe it with every fiber of my being. With every fiber of my being. The world Death, judicial death, spiritual death, the second death, physical death, everything under his feet and under our feet.

Now, fourthly, when the end comes, the Lord Jesus shall deliver up the kingdom unto God the Father. Look at verse 24. Then come at the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rules and of all authority and power, verse 28. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Now let me tell you what this doesn't mean and what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that Christ is less than God. It does not mean that the Son of God is in any way inferior to God. It does not mean that the Lord Jesus will cease to be prophet, priest, and king. For the Scripture declares to the Son also, He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.

But what then does Paul mean? He means that when God has finished with everything, when the resurrection is over, the great white throne judgment is finished, and all the saints have been glorified, and all the reprobate have been forever damned, then there will be one final work to be finished, one crowning final, final work. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will take the kingdom, the whole number of God's elect, every one of his people, and he'll deliver the kingdom to the Father. Hebrews 2.13 says, he'll say, Lo, I and the children which thou hast given me, he'll deliver them up to the Father.

In other words, he'll say, Father, I've finished all the work. all your purpose of grace, all the counsel of peace, all the covenant of which I'm sure it is now finished. And here, all your chosen, all my redeemed, all who've been called by the blessed spirit, here they are, everyone of them, holy, unblamable, and unreprovable in your sight. And that's what Paul tells us in Ephesians 1 was his purpose from the beginning, that he should make you holy and without blame, unreprovable beforehand. And this is the end of all things, that God may be all in all.

God Almighty from eternity has ordained everything that comes to pass to make himself an everlasting and a glorious name, Isaiah 63, that in all things Christ might have the preeminence. And in the end,

God, the triune God, Father son and Holy Spirit as he is revealed known loved and worshiped in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ our God man mediator Shall be all in all That is what that means The works and purpose of the triune God shall all be perfectly accomplished all of it

read Ephesians 1 verses 3 through 14 and understand that everything there declared is shall now be done." Everything. All the purpose of God. All His works fully accomplished so that nothing's lacking. God in Christ shall then be everything. All in all. All meat, clothing, and shelter for our bodies. All life, joy, peace, glory, and satisfaction for our souls.

Indeed, the scripture describes Him as being the sun and the moon. He's the light. He's everything. God in Christ shall be all in all. God, the triune God, shall be all in all things. God, the triune God, shall be all in all his people. God, the triune God, shall be all in all, in all the praises of all his people forever.

This is the goal for which we labor. This is the burden, the care, and the concern of our heart. This, Bob, is what our Lord taught us to pray for, our Father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so it shall be. Amen.