Okay, well if you turn in your Bibles with me to the Gospel of John and the last chapter of the Gospel of John, chapter 21 in the Gospel of John. This is that glorious meeting of the Lord Jesus Christ with his apostles on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And he spoke to Peter and promised what would come of Peter, and he asked Peter some wonderful, wonderful questions.

Peter, do you love me? He didn't say, Peter, are you sorry about what you've just done? He didn't say, Peter, will you promise to be better in the future, Peter? There's just one issue between God and his Do you love me? Do you love the me that's been so gloriously declared and described all the way through John's gospel? Do you love the me of John chapter 6 that sent a whole crowd away? Thousands of people left him. Peter was asked, you can go as well. You can read the sermon in John chapter 6, it's worth reading again and again and again, and ask yourselves, do you love that God? Do you love that God who makes pronouncements about the Pharisees and says to them, your children Do you love him? Do you love him?

And as you, to put you back in the picture, I've been away for a few weeks, but there the Lord Jesus Christ goes for a walk along the shoreline of Galilee with Peter. And Peter is just so, so wonderful. He's just so typical of us, isn't he? There you are. You have a private, invited audience with God Almighty in resurrected flesh. And you can't keep your eyes on him. You can't keep your ears on his words. And Peter turned and said, what about John? What about John?

The Lord said in verse 21, let's read from verse 21 down to the end of the chapter. And Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then it went about this saying abroad among the brethren that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him he shall not die, but if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose, that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.

How glorious is our Lord Jesus Christ! The world cannot contain our Lord Jesus Christ, and this world cannot contain all that should be written about him. So glorious is our great God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Holy Spirit has led the Apostle John because of this error in the relaying of this story. He's caused us to have this message twice, hasn't he? If I will that he tarry till I come. What's that to thee? Thou follow me. If I will that he tarry till I come. What is that to thee?

There is, there is, A momentous tilth hanging over all of this creation, isn't it? Everything, everything we see has a terminus. Those who catch the train down from Sydney, you get to Kiama Station or get to before Kiama Station. This train terminates here. And you can't go any further. world terminates with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything visible we see has a terminus to it. It's the till. It's the until. If I will, that he tarry till I come.

Was it any problem for the Lord Jesus Christ to have John live all of that time? No problem at all. Would it have been for his glory and the good of the church? No, it wouldn't because it didn't happen. There's a momentous till over everything. And what the Lord is saying at the end of this gospel, he says, all the events of all mankind are in my hands, in my sovereign hands. Everything about your life is in my hands. the day of your birth, the day of your death, the time of your death, the circumstances of your death, everything and all that flows from all of what happens in your life in this world is worked by God. That's what it is for God to be God, isn't it? A God who is not absolutely sovereign is not God. A God who tries and fails is not God. A God who wishes and wills and they don't come to pass is not God. He just is not God. He's not the God of this book. He's not the God of this creation.

When God spoke creation into existence, did the atoms obey? Did they all? Did the little quarks? You think about it from the most extraordinary tiny thing you can possibly imagine inside atoms. Did they all move exactly according to his will? They did. You think about the biggest thing in all of this. The universe is so big that it's just the numbers are irrelevant to us. It is just mind-boggling how big it all is. Why? So we would have, with our tiny puny brains, the ability to grasp something of how amazing the Lord Jesus Christ is when he created all of this. All events, he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Nothing, nothing stops him. His purpose is being fulfilled. God doesn't have purposes. He doesn't have plans. He has a purpose. And he, in Isaiah 46.10, if you want to turn there quickly, it's a great verse to have put into your memory and to have as part of your thoughts about this world that we live in, because in Isaiah 46.10, the Lord declares his absolute sovereignty over all things. I love the fact that he's sovereign. If he's not absolutely sovereign, things are out of control, aren't they?

Isaiah 46.10. He said, well, let's go back to verse nine. Remember the foremost things of old. For I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me. There is none like God. You think that he's altogether like you. I love what Luther said to Erasmus. Your thoughts of God are just far too human. You're a brilliant scholar and an absolute fool when it comes to spiritual matters altogether.

But listen to what God says in verse 10, declaring the end from the beginning. So what is the end? What's the end that he's declaring? The lamb slain from the foundation of the world will have a bride that he's bought with his precious blood and ever and ever. That's the end.

You guys have built things, you ladies have designed and built things as well. You have a picture in your mind when you're making a cake what it's going to look like at the end, aren't you? When you decorate something, when you make something, you have an idea and you... God had a purpose, didn't he? He declared it. He declared it. What's the end? It's not in this world. It's for him to be glorified, for him to be revealed to his people in all All of those people will have resurrected bodies like the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be able to live with Him in perfect communion of absolute holiness. And the wonderful thing about it is there are no snakes there ever again. Nothing gets in there. You read it around Revelation 21 and 22, isn't it wonderful? Nothing is going to defile it. Nothing is going to get there. Nothing will spoil the communion of God's people with Him. But nothing will take away from the absolute glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is the sun? What is the light in that new creation? It's Him! What is the captivating thought of all in that new creation all of the time? It's Him. We'll see each other and be in communion with each other forever. That's the end, isn't it?

Till I come. Till I come. And he gives Peter a very simple instruction. Until that time, you just follow me. You follow me. You believe on me. You trust me. You look to me. You follow thou me. What a glorious future lies ahead for the children of God. How precious it is, how precious it is for us here to hear the Gospel, the only Gospel that saves. To hear about how this glorious Saviour has gone away, as he said in John 14, I've gone away to prepare a place for you. What's he done? Where's he gone to prepare a place for you? In the immediate context, he's gone to the cross at Calvary to prepare a place for you. You can't get into this new creation with any sin whatsoever. Nothing in there is going to defile it.

He said, don't let your heart be troubled. Peter, you're going to be an absolute, you're going to be a shocker to yourself and everyone else, and we'll be talking about you 2,000 years later because of how reckless and how proud you were on that night. And then he says, don't let your heart be troubled, Peter. You're going to betray me. Don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. That's what's to follow him. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. What's the terminus? the Lord Jesus Christ. I will. Don't let your hearts be troubled. Don't let your hearts be troubled. You follow me.

And he's also saying, of course, that John's life is in my hands. All of the servants and all of the children of God have all of the circumstances of all of their life in the hands of God Almighty. safe hands they are what safe hands they are don't you worry about John don't you worry about anyone else Peter you feed my sheep you feed my lambs you feed my sheep and you follow me

The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is known to Him. It is known to God alone. And I like it that way, because our instructions in this little time space of this creation are really, really simple. You come to me, you follow me, you believe on me, you look to me, you trust me. And the I will will be done. The I will will be done. And I want us to be reminded that this is the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ speaking to those children of his love. All of this is love language from our great, great God. He's taken a far journey, our great God and Saviour, and He's gone into heaven's glories, and the scriptures say, Behold, he cometh is the word in Revelation 1.7. We'll look at some of these possibly after the break. Behold, he cometh. He's on his way back. And it might seem, as he said in the parable in Mark 13, that he's gone a long way and he's delayed in his return. Eyes of the Lord is as a thousand years. He's been gone for two days, brothers and sisters. He's not far away at all. If I go away for two days, Elisa is rejoicing. She's not troubled. I'm coming back in two days. He's coming back. He's on his way back. He says he's coming back. He wants at the close of this glorious gospel for us to have this in mind, and the Holy Spirit repeats it twice, till he come, till he come.

He came in glory out of heaven, didn't he? And he came with a purpose, and he came for a bride, and he came to save his people from their sins, and he did it, all of it. He came in grace. Everywhere in all the Gospel accounts you find that everyone who is a needy sinner in the presence of this Saviour comes away rejoicing in who He is. Only the needy sinners will come. He came in glory and He came in grace. He came to save His people. He came as the surety of the eternal covenant of love. He made a promise. God the Father made a promise. He made a promise from before the foundation of the world. He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. He's promised the Father. all of the sheep will come home and be in that glorious fold. Can he lose one? This modern religious world says he can. If you don't do your little bit he can. Who's at fault if the shepherd loses a sheep? Who's at fault if the shepherd loses a sheep? It's really simple, isn't it? The gospel is simple. The shepherd's responsible for the sheep. The shepherd's responsible for the servants. The shepherd's responsible for dealing with the wolves. And the shepherd's responsible for all of those things. Can they get lost with this shepherd shepherding them?

I've only dealt with sheep a little bit, Graham. You're welcome to the jolly things. It's one of the very, very real and true signs of love for my wife is that I tolerate it. We had the most disobedient sheep in all of them. I didn't realise until we got rid of them all that we had a variety that was just ridiculously disobedient. And no matter how fancy a fence I made and how strong I made it and how much electricity I put in it, Anyway, it's called love, I hope. But He came. Our Saviour came on a purpose. He came to do His Father's will. You read about it in John 6. And this is the Father's will that sent me, that all of which He has given me, I'll lose none of them. They're the ones He prayed for. They're the ones He died for. He didn't pray for the world. He came for them. He loved them. He came to glorify His Father's name.

What's all this about at the end of the day? What's it all about? It's about the glory of God Almighty, the glory of God the Father in electing love, the glory of God the Son in redeeming love, the glory of the blessed Holy Spirit in making all of God's children alive. convicting them of sin and righteousness and judgment, making them to be needy sinners, and bringing them sweetly into the arms of their Saviour. He came. This is the resurrected Lord who is speaking. I love how Romans begins The Gospel is concerning his son Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. The resurrection is a declaration of the power of God. And when we think of the power of God, we think of the power of God in creation. We think of the power of God in ruling over Satan and all of his enemies in this world.

Where's the power of God displayed? Turn with me to Ephesians 1. I want us to see this because we misunderstand what he's doing and we misunderstand his coming and we misunderstand his second coming in so many ways. It has been the brunt of all sorts of nonsense for many, many, many years. There are whole denominations that have based their name on the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ and they get it wrong all the time because God promised that they wouldn't know.

But in Ephesians chapter 1, he pries. He does, in verse 16, I cease not to give thanks for you, mentioning you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

The eyes of your understanding, there are a particular group of people called the elect in this world, and they have had, by a sovereign work of God Almighty, when he gave them life, gave them spiritual life, He caused the eyes of their understanding to be enlightened. They're a heck of a lot better than our natural eyes, I promise you. They are a heck of a lot better. Our natural eyes deceive us, just like me plucking out those words and thinking they're bindi. Our natural eyes don't tell us the truth all the time.

What's required for you to believe an absolute sovereign God who loved a particular people, who came into this world for a particular people, and died for a particular people that the Father gave him before the foundation of the world? He loved them, he died for them, they will be regenerated,

What power is involved? Listen to what it is. Power to us who believe. It requires nothing less than the power of Almighty God to believe the gospel. It's not a little thing to believe the gospel.

40% of this world would claim themselves to be Christian. Almost 100% of the world that the Lord Jesus Christ came to 2,000 years ago would have called themselves Christians in today's understanding. They were looking for the Christ. They were getting their lives ready for Him. They were preparing their nation ready for Him. And when He came, how many? How many? How many is believing a precious thing, brothers and sisters? Is believing precious?

It requires the power of God according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places. What a glorious, glorious God we have. It's the home of the Believers. It's the home of the righteous. And I want us to be reminded that these are the words that we're reading in John 21. They're the words of a resurrected Saviour. A resurrected Saviour. As sure as the resurrection is, so is the fulfilment of till I come. As sure as the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is that till I come, I'm desperately in need of being right with Him. I'm desperately in need of being, as Paul said, being found in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that when God comes looking for me on the Day of Judgment, He doesn't see me at all. He doesn't see me at all. He sees His Son. All of His bride is united to Him and one with Him.

God's children Paul speaks about it in 2 Timothy and we'll look at it again after the break. But Paul said, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord will give to me and all those that love his appearing. If you love His appearing in His Incarnation and if you love His appearing by the power of God to give you that simple childlike faith to rest in Him and to follow Him and to trust Him and to look only to Him and look away completely from yourself, There's a crown of righteousness, Paul says, at the end of his life. It was laid up for me. Where is it? Peter says, where's his treasure? It's all reserved in heaven for him. What a good place for it to be. It's kept in heaven by God. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but to all them that love his

We love his appearing in eternity, standing there before God the Father and making a promise that all that the Father gave him, he will care for them. He will take full responsibility for everything to bring them home. He's the shepherd. He's the one that's responsible. He says, I'll take full responsibility for all their sins and I'll take full responsibility for all of their righteousness, all of their holiness before God. I'll take full. We love His appearing. We love His appearing in creation. The heavens declare the glory of God. We love His appearing in the garden that Simon spoke so well about last week. We love His appearing in all of the scriptures, all of the Old Testament scriptures. They just have one message. The Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We love His appearing. We love the fact that when he came from heaven, there was an appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ and heaven sang, the angels came and sang. We love his appearing in all the gospel accounts that declare how wonderful and how glorious he was and how he came to save sinners.

He's coming. People want to frighten people about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance. We want to declare the goodness. We want to declare the grace of God. We want to declare to all those that God has wounded in heart and whose souls are afflicted. Come now. Come and believe. Come and rejoice in our great God and Saviour. He's coming.

Revelation, and I love how the Bible finishes. John finishes all three of his major letters by talking about the coming, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know that? John's gospel does. Till I come, till I come. John's letter does. He says, and we know that the Son of God is come and has given us understanding. We may know him that is true and we are in him that is true. This is, even in his Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life. This is a record. We're bringing a record from God. He that believeth on the Son of God, 1 John 5.10, hath the witness in himself. What other people say doesn't matter. He that believeth not God hath made him alive, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God has given to us. Eternal life. Eternal life has no beginning, and eternal life has no end, and eternal life is now. It has to be. It's not something that begins when you leave here.

I'd love for us to be praying the prayer of the church at the very end of our scriptures. He that testifieth these things, Revelation 22, 20, he which testifieth these things saith, these are his last words, surely I come. He can't wait to be in the presence of his bride. And I'm saying that with irreverence, I'm sorry, but I hope you understand how I feel. When you miss, when you're separated from someone you love very dearly, to be in their presence, to be in their company is something that just warms our heart.

Surely I'm coming quickly. Amen. Truly, truly. And what does the church say? And even so, come Lord Jesus, come Lord Jesus. How will you say that? What will cause you to say that? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. That's the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm coming quickly. He's made a promise. The church says, Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Let's have a break and enjoy a cup of coffee. May the Lord be merciful and bless these words to our hearts. Thank you.