Well, we were looking at the
letters to the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 over the previous
few weeks, and those letters teach patient endurance until
the world ends. That's what they teach. Patience,
endurance, but don't forget this. It's until the world ends. That's the clear message. The
end is coming. The kingdom of God is going to
triumph. This kingdom of Satan, with its
sin, is going to be overthrown. Because for the children of God,
for the elect of God, for those who have believed the gospel
of His grace, by His irresistible grace calling them, eternity
is the goal. Yes, we have things to do here
and now, but eternity is the goal. That's the reality. That's
the prize for those that run the race, and those that finish
the race. That's the prize. This world
is trouble. It's tribulation on every side. What a year of tribulation it
has seemed, and is still seeming, isn't it? There's periods of
fleeting comfort, but there's always the curse of sin. In 2
Corinthians 4 and verse 18, this is how we should view things.
While we look not at the things which are seen, stuff that's
solid all around us, don't look at that, but at the things which
are not seen. For things which are seen are
temporal, they're just for a while. But the things which are not
seen, the truth of heaven, of God, and of His grace and His
salvation. These things are eternal. It's these solid-looking things
that are passing away. The things that you can't see,
the things of eternity, the things of the Spirit, are the things
that are eternal. We remember, those of us that
are old enough, that you used to see, you perhaps still do
actually in some places, but often you would see in big cities,
somebody wandering along with a sandwich board over his shoulders,
you know, board at the front and the back with, beware, the
end is nigh, you know, prepare to meet your, and we used to
ridicule them thinking that they were out of their minds, but
you know, The clear lesson of Scripture is this. The clear
weight and emphasis of Scripture is this. We who are trusting
Christ for salvation must seek to be ready for the end to come. We should have our minds set
on the coming of God's kingdom, of the overthrow of this kingdom.
These are strange days in which we're living. Is it not increasingly
evident? I say it most weeks, but I've
never seen it quite like this in my lifetime. World government,
not least the government of this country, seems to be utterly
broken. We seem to be managed and ruled
and restricted by people that quite honestly are displaying
the greatest lack of public societal wisdom, I think, has ever been
displayed at one time. God is frustrating. That's what's
happening. God is frustrating. You see,
this world has aspirations of worldwide peace. Do you remember
when the Blair government was elected in 1997, and how they
blazoned out that song, things can only get better, things can
only get better? Really? Really? The last 23 years,
things can only get better? No, no, no. Not in this world. It aspires to worldwide peace
and unity. Oh, if we could only learn to
live together, and get on together, and give peace a chance, and
make war a thing of the past, and make poverty history, and
all of these things. But we don't want anything to
do with the righteousness and justice of God. We don't want
anything to do with God's character and righteousness and justice
and his justice that demands that sin must be punished and
the payment must be made. No, they don't want anything
to do with that and therefore God frustrates the kingdom of
this world in its aspirations. What we're seeing at the moment
is just part of that. It's all following the revealed pattern
in scripture. The signs are becoming ever clearer. Did you notice in chapter 24
of Matthew and verse 32, when Stephen was reading earlier,
now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet
tender, and putteth forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh,
you know that things are coming. We look, we see the leaves now
at this time of year, starting to turn, we know winter is coming.
Soon these leaves, another month or so, and all these leaves will
be gone. These flowers will be shriveled up and brown. We discern
the signs of the times when it comes to the seasons. What's
Jesus saying to his disciples and to us there? He's saying,
look for the signs. It is not wrong. I was criticized
quite strongly a couple of years ago by somebody saying that I
was just looking at the way that history was unfolding as if something
dramatic had to happen. No, it's what the scripture teaches.
Look at the signs of the times in which we're living. You know,
just look at the signs of nature for the seasons. Well, look at
what's happening in this world. The end is coming. Be under no
delusion. The end is coming. When is it
going to be? How long is it going to be? Verse
36, verse 36. But of that day and hour, when
it comes, knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but
my Father only. Is it going to be today? I don't
know. Might be. Is it going to be next week?
I don't know. Might be. Next year? I don't know. Might
be. Ten years? A hundred years? We
don't know. It teaches us here, only the
Father knows. Only the Father. Nevertheless,
we need prepared minds. We need to live in an expectant
demeanour, an expectant style of life, as others have described
it, on the tiptoe of faith, looking for the return of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the end of these things. We need to seek to be faithful
in service for our Lord Jesus Christ, with our affections,
not legal constraint, but with our affections, our love aligned
with God's revelation. You know, what do you want? What's
your greatest desire? That the kingdom of God should
come. Now, we're not called to give up living now. Listen, you
young folk, as you listen, children, children, You get your education. You do the best you can. Don't
say, oh, Grandad says that the world's going to end, therefore
we don't need to bother. That's not what I'm saying at all. Because
I don't know. It might be a hundred years.
We don't know. Nobody knows the time. So go on, get your education. Lives have got to be lived now.
Aspire to a career. to be good at what you do, to
be responsible, to be good adults. Aspire to that, to have a family,
to raise a family. Aspire to that, to build a home.
Aspire to that. That's good. Do all As it says
again and again in the epistles, do it all as if you're serving
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, which you are if you're His.
So we're not called to give up living now, but live constantly
aware that the end is coming. Because verse 44, in such an
hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Bear that in mind. Oh, is he coming? No, no, no,
I don't think he's going to come today. In such an hour as ye
think not, the Son of Man cometh. Constantly live aware that the
end is coming. So what does the scripture teach
us? Well, Having done those letters to the churches in Revelation,
I felt very much led that we need to look at this preparation
for the end and the teaching of Scripture concerning the coming
of the end. Because again and again, what's
the message of the Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples and to
us? It's be ready, be prepared. Get ready for it. Live in an
attitude of mind that it's coming. And so I plan to do a few messages
from Matthew 24 and 25, where the Lord gives much teaching
about that. So first of all, let's read chapter 24 and the
first 14 verses. And Jesus went out and departed
from the temple. And his disciples came to him,
for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said
unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you,
there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall
not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount
of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell
us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of
thy coming? and of the end of the world. And Jesus answered
and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive
many. And ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars. See that
ye be not troubled. For all these things must come
to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and
pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are
the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up
to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of
all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended,
and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And
many false prophets shall rise and deceive many, and because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he
that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And
this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world
for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end come.
In the bulletin, I've put a piece by Don Faulkner from his book
on Matthew, Finding Christ in Matthew. Take that and read it,
and I make no excuse for the fact that this morning's message
is based very much on the approach that Don Faulkner takes there.
We greatly miss him, we really do, and we're so glad that God
gave us to him because He has shown us such clear things and
I know that this is the scriptural thing to do. You know what Paul
said to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 2, he said,
the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses, the
same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach
others also. So you learn it and you go and
teach it to others as you get opportunity. But the first point,
and they're not exactly as the seven in there, I've got one,
two, three, four, I've got five points. the ideas condensed here. But the first thing that I think
we can see from this, when the disciples said, when's the end
of the world coming? Look at this glorious temple.
When's the end of the world coming? When's it going to happen? We
need to always bear in mind what this world is in which we live.
What is it? What is this universe in which
we live, this creation? In the eternal purposes of God,
this world, as Shakespeare once said, all the world is a stage,
is what he said. This world is just the stage
on which God performs his work of redeeming grace. The glory
of God is redeeming grace. This world, this creation, is
the stage on which he performs it. It's a stage where the contrast,
you know, your contrast often brings out the clarity of a thing
that you're trying to show. If you want to show something
that is light, put it against a dark background. Those of you
watching this on the internet or watching the recording now
will wonder why we have a dark green sheet behind us, right?
It's because of the contrast. Without that sheet, my face is
so dark you can hardly see me. So that's why we have that dark.
The contrast helps. Well, This world, this sinful
world, is the contrast, the stage on which God performs His work,
His play, if you like, of redeeming grace. Or another way to look
at it, it's like scaffolding. You know when they're putting
up new houses or a new building? Scaffolding goes up. And the
builders use the scaffolding to build the building, which
is the real thing, the real thing. The kingdom of God is the real
thing. The kingdom of God is the goal.
This world is just the scaffolding in which God is building his
kingdom. But when his kingdom is built, the scaffolding, like
the scaffolding around every building, will be taken down.
The scaffolding will be removed. When every last one of the elect
of God, loved in Christ from before the foundation of the
world with an everlasting love, that innumerable multitude of
people from all races and tribes who were loved by God and in
grace united with Christ, when every one of them in time, in
this world, in this creation, has followed the gospel call,
there'll be a cry. Matthew 25 verse 6, Behold, the
bridegroom cometh. That's it, there is going to
be a call. In 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 24, again, you see
this is not an obscure teaching that's just in one little corner
of the Scriptures. No. Then cometh the end, when
Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God. That's when
the end of this world comes. That's when this world is a stage
the play will be over. That's when the scaffolding of
which this world is the structure in which God builds his kingdom,
it will be taken away. The elect, those who overcome
by persevering, How do they persevere? In the preserving grace of God. They shall, as Revelation 21
verse 7 says, the elect shall inherit all things. They shall inherit all things. Look at chapter 25 of Matthew
and verse 34. On that day, there's going to
be a great big divide. In verse 34, then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, come, ye blessed of my Father. This is to his elect, to his
sheep. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. And then look at verse 41. Then
shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me
ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels. There is going to be a great
divide on that day of God, on that day of judgment. A great
divide, blessing on those whom Christ has come to save, curse
and separation and hell for those who have rejected the living
God. You see, there is going to be
an end. there was a scientist, an astronomer called Fred Hoyle,
Sir Fred Hoyle, who established and ran the Jodrell Bank Observatory
in Cheshire in this country for many years from its foundation.
And I remember he was renowned for his theory of a steady state
of the universe, that there was no such thing as a beginning,
and by the same token, there would be no such thing as an
end. And I remember once, many years ago, seeing a drama about
him and his great... astronomical project, in which
the ideas of the Big Bang Theory were then being put forward. And the Big Bang Theory says
that according to the laws of science, there definitely was
a point at which things began, and the The outworking of that
theory is that there is definitely going to be a point at which
things will end. A point start and a point finish. And Hoyle
hated that idea. And do you know why he hated
that idea? The writers of the drama put
it like this. His line in that was, if we accept that, then
we must acknowledge God Almighty. Wow. Wow. Wow. Think about that. That man, by
what he said, he said, if we acknowledge a beginning and an
end, we must acknowledge God Almighty. He had his steady state
theory, which wasn't true. Now, those that, you know, all
the laws of physics, the physicists are in no doubt, there was a
beginning. Call it a big bang or what you like, there was a
beginning and there will be, at some stage, an end. We might
disagree about time scales and the way that God orders things,
but nevertheless, beginning and end is now accepted. We need
to wake up and live in the light of that knowledge. We need to
ask, what must I do to be prepared for it? Shouldn't we? You know, we think we're so clever
these days. You know, thousands of years ago, probably 4,000
years ago, I don't know how many, but Job, the oldest book in the
Bible, How should a man be just with God? How can I be prepared
because I know and I know I'm going to end because I'm a sinner
who must die in the day you eat thereof you shall surely die.
And I know that this world is coming to an end when we must
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. What must I do?
What must I be like to be prepared for it? Because you see only
you will be accountable for your failure to take note. Did you
hear that? If you don't take note of the
message of Scripture, of the message I'm seeking to preach
now, on that day only you will be accountable for your failure
to pay any attention. You've heard me and you've heard
many other preachers repeatedly declare the gospel of salvation
from sin in Christ, that Christ came and paid for the sins of
His people with His own precious blood, that His people might
be made that which God requires, the righteousness of God in Him.
That is why again and again when we see the glorified Lord Jesus
Christ in those letters, I am He that liveth and was dead,
and I am alive forevermore. He died. The fact that He died
has paid redemption's price. You've heard us preach this.
You know that eternal life is yours in believing in Him, because
He said it. He that believeth in Me shall
not perish, but have everlasting life. Believe in the Son. Believe
in the Son of God. Trust in the Son of God. This
is the gospel call. Turn ye from your evil ways,
says Ezekiel 33, 11. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways. What evil ways? Your evil ways
of unbelief. That's the sin that so easily
besets us in Hebrews 12. The sin of unbelief. Turn ye
from your evil ways of unbelief, for why will ye die? Why will
you willingly die when there is a glorious God of grace who
has declared a gospel that is effectual to the salvation of
his people? Don't believe a gospel with a
Jesus who is not the Jesus of Scripture. A gospel that depends
on you and your decision, that's not the truth of God. The truth
of God is that Christ has accomplished salvation. He has paid the price.
That's why God raised him from the dead. That's why he raised
him from the dead. He was delivered up for our transgressions
and raised for our justification. It's proven that it's accepted.
Jesus illustrated all of this to his disciples. In verse 2
of Matthew 24 he says, they said, look at the temple, and he said,
look at all of these things, verily I say to you, they shall
not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown
down. He's going to illustrate to them
how we should view this world in which we're living until the
end of time. The disciples were impressed
with the physical, with physical things. We're so, as creatures
of flesh and of time, we're so impressed with that which is
physical. The temple, etc. But this is just the stage on
which the gospel blueprint was staged. That temple was just
the stage. I've told you many times before,
that temple was the gospel blueprint with its sacrifices and its altars
and its holy of holy and the high priest and all of the daily
sacrifices. As soon as the reality had come,
Christ is the reality that would come, it would be taken down. That temple would be taken down.
Look at Haggai chapter 2. You don't have to look, just
listen. Haggai chapter 2 verse 9. Speaking of that temple that
Jesus was telling them was going to be taken down, not one stone
left on another, he says, the glory of this latter house shall
be greater than of the former. The former was the temple of
Solomon that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar just before the
Babylonian captivity. And then, under the direction
of Cyrus the Persian, they were sent back to Jerusalem to rebuild
Nehemiah, Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, these prophets. The glory of
this latter house will be greater than the former and those that
knew in this day of Haggai said, oh how can that be? Hold on a
minute, yeah we're having a good effort but you know some of us
saw the glory of the old Solomon temple and you know we're never
ever going to come close to that. That was out of this world, it
had the Urim and the Thummim and the fire of God and all of
these things, the Shekinah glory, all of that was, no no no. No,
we're having a good effort, but no, it's not going to be better
than that. Oh yes it will, says God, through his prophet. The
glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former. Why?
Why? In this place will I give peace,
says the Lord of hosts. How? by the coming of His Son. His Son walked in that temple.
His Son cast out the money changers. His Son preached the gospel of
the kingdom in that place. Oh, the glory of that second
temple was greater than the magnificent glory of Solomon's, because the
Son of God in human flesh, of which the temple was just a picture,
God incarnate, He walked there in that temple, but he says,
it's going to come down. Why is it going to come down? Because Christ is going to accomplish
everything that it was for. And when he's accomplished it,
it has no more use. Micah chapter three, verse 12,
therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field and
Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house
as the high places of the forest. Where have we got to? Then Matthew
23 and verse 38. Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate. Your house, the temple, in Jerusalem. It's left desolate. Why is it
left desolate? Daniel chapter 9 and verse 26. And after threescore and two
weeks, these are symbolical of years after the time of Daniel
until Messiah would come. After threescore and two weeks
shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, didn't need
to be cut off for himself, for his people. And the people of
the prince that shall come, the Romans, shall come, shall destroy
the city and the sanctuary." Titus, Emperor Titus, A.D. 70. You can go to Rome today
and you can see a monument in Rome that the Romans put up to
celebrate their conquest, their putting down of the Jews in Jerusalem
in A.D. 70. It's there. I'm not making
this up. The Word of God isn't making
it up. They shall destroy the sanctuary, and the end thereof
shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations
are determined. He prophesied the end of it,
and when Christ had accomplished redemption, as he did in A.D. 70, Titus and the Romans destroyed
it. Don't place any confidence in
physical things. You know it's never been rebuilt.
As much as they've tried, as much as different ones have tried,
it has never been rebuilt, because in the purposes of God it cannot
be rebuilt. We need to beware. Don't put
any confidence in physical things, in church buildings. You know
we've got some brethren all around the world, not many but some,
and some are in much better place than we are, you would think,
in that they have lovely church buildings and they talk about
the sanctuary. Do you know something? I do wish
they wouldn't, I really do. Do you know This room is a sanctuary,
but do you know when? This room is a sanctuary only
when the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is being preached. Never
at any other time is just any old room, just like anywhere
else. These buildings where our friends meet, where they've got
much more space than we have, and they can have buildings,
and land is so much cheaper than it is here, and they can furnish
them, and there's prosperity, and nicely kitted, it's not a
sanctuary, it's only a sanctuary! when the gospel of Christ is
being faithfully preached. We mustn't put emphasis on buildings
and physical things, on status, on reputation, on the resources
that we have, because it's all passing away. You know how we're
to hold the things that God gives us? On an open hand, because
he who gives it can easily take it away. The Lord giveth, the
Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord,
said Job. Look at Matthew 24 and verse
35. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
all these physical things shall pass away, but my words shall
not pass away. Christ, his gospel, that which
is salvation to the uttermost, how shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? Christ and his gospel, this is
the thing that continues, brotherly love let brotherly love continue
we read in hebrews on wednesday night let brotherly love continue
love for the brethren the love for people that which is motivated
by the love of christ for his people the preservation of the
elect This is what matters. God has said, I will never leave
you nor forsake you in Hebrews 13 verse 5. He has said that. He said at the end of Matthew's
gospel, the very last verse, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world. Nothing can take that away from
the people of God. Not buildings, not spaces, not
sanctuaries are the things that we ought to look to, but the
promises of God, the true promises of God. Not even Satan can take
that away from us. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? I need constantly to be reminded
that striving to make this world better, because I do get quite
upset about what our politicians are doing with all the coronavirus
laws at the moment, it makes me absolutely furious, but I
need to come down and sort of step back from it and just see
it for what it is. It is God implementing his purposes. It isn't my goal to make this
world a better place, politically. My goal should be to live looking
unto Jesus, my only and eternal hope. Well, as usual, I've spent
far too much time on that, and our time is running out, but
look, let's take heed of a few other things quickly in the time
that remains. The next one is beware of false prophets and
false religion. In verse 4, you know, they said,
when's this all going to happen? You know, tell us when it will
be. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no
man deceive you. Beware! There's deception all
around. There are many references in
Scripture warning believers. Satan is the father of lies. He's like a prowling lion seeking
whom he can devour, seeking whom he can deceive. You know, I believe
firmly, that the Scripture indicates, looking at the signs of the times,
that we're in the little season of Satan. What's the little season
of Satan? The season in which God releases him After the symbolical
thousand years when he was bound, when he was restrained in his
ability to deceive the nations, and in that time the Christian
gospel spread far and wide, but now in this little season he's
released to deceive the nations once more. I don't think you've
ever, any of us, have ever seen deception concerning the truth
of God quite on the scale that it is around the world in this
last 30 years. He comes as an angel of light
in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 4. Doesn't even Satan come as an
angel of light? Oh, he's the most evil beast.
Don't we recognize him because he wears a red cape and he's
got these horns and he's got a spiked fork in his hand? No,
no, no. He comes as an angel of light.
False preachers all around abound preaching false Christs. Get
that. It's important. It's not just
that they say untrue things about the true Christ. They preach
false Christs. If they preach a Christ that
wants to try and save everybody, then that's not the Christ of
Scripture, because the Christ of Scripture doesn't want to
try and save everybody. How do I know he prayed to his
Father? I pray not for the world, but
for those you have given me out of the world. Anybody who preaches
a Christ that wants to, and fails to save everybody, is preaching
not wrong things about the true Christ, but a false Christ. Don't
follow them. all the sects, yes, all of them,
but many which look orthodox too. The fact is it's all the
ideas of fallen men, to try and make it acceptable, to try and
cope with loneliness, to try and meld in, you know, things
that went wrong with the Baptist confession of 1644 and 1646.
By the time it got to 1689, they were so worried about being crushed
out of existence that they joined up with legalists. And so the
1689 Baptist Confession now has the law of God as the believer's
rule of life. Completely reject that. Anybody
out there listening to me that thinks I've made an outrageous
statement, I'll repeat it just in case you didn't quite believe
what you heard me say. 1689 Confession is false. The law of God is not the believer's
rule of life. The Christ of God is the believer's
rule of life. So we're small in number and
we're lonely. Why not join with a bigger church
and pool numbers? Wouldn't it be so much better?
Oh look, the children could grow up in a big Young People's Fellowship. Should I tell you? You've heard
this before. Bill Clark used to say it all
the time. It only takes one drop of cyanide to poison a whole
glass of pure water. We will not mix with that which
is false. I know we can't claim 100% that
we always know everything right. Of course not. but on the key
things of saving grace and the gospel. We need to choose those
with whom we have fellowship carefully. Really, we do. Don't
just go somewhere because you feel you've got to have somewhere
to go. It's better to be alone in truth with Christ than in
a religious crowd with falsehood. Next point, don't expect a great
revival before the... Oh, soon we pray for... You know,
the Welsh were always praying for revival, as if some great
revival had happened in the 1800s. Do you know, I'm very skeptical
again, like Don Faulkner. All those things were more charismatic
nonsense and excess than true revival. True revival doesn't
result in people foaming at the mouth and being thrown on the
floor in meetings. No, it doesn't. That wasn't revival. Most of that wasn't revival.
I'm very skeptical about most of that. So don't expect a great
revival before the end. Christ alerts his people in this
world to expect no more than troubleless times. Trouble, great
tribulation, error, falsehood, deception, hatred. Verse 9, then
shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you.
And you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. This
is what Jesus is warning his disciples will be the signs of
the times. Yes, they are. Infidelity. Walking
out on the truth, verse 10, many shall be offended, and many shall
betray one another, and shall hate one another. You know like
those disciples of John 6, when they heard Christ clearly preaching
the electing grace of God. The fact that you cannot come
unless the Father draws you. You must eat the flesh and the
blood of the Son of Man. All of those things, this is
the will of Him that sent me, of all that the Father gave me
I should lose nothing. Oh, they found it a hard saying,
who can bear it? And they went away. Many shall
be offended at the gospel that's preached and shall betray one
another and shall hate one another. Verse 11, many false prophets
likewise shall arise and deceive many. Verse 12, because iniquity
shall abound, the love of many, those that claim to profess,
shall wax cold. There also must be heresies amongst
you, says Paul to the Corinthians. It's a fact of the age in which
we live, from when Christ returned to when he comes again. Many
like to look for a revival and a great turning to Christ before
the end, but I see nothing in Scripture to suggest that. So
don't expect it. Again, what are we to do? Keep
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And
verse 6, When we hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that
you be not troubled. When we hear of stupid laws being
passed in the name of preventing us all dying from coronavirus,
don't be troubled. Don't be concerned about it.
These things must yet come to pass, but the end is not yet.
He controls everything, even on this heap of scaffolding,
which is up to support the building of the kingdom of God. Next point. Endure in faith to the end. Verse
13. But he that shall endure unto
the end the same shall be saved. Endure to the end. Right, you
cling on. You cling on and you sort of
imagine yourself on that sheer rock face and you've got one
hold and by your fingers you're holding on and oh I've got to
hold on otherwise I'll fall and I'll die and I've got to hold
on but my fingers are giving way, my fingers are giving...
In what strength shall you hold on? The promises of God. Listen
to this. Listen to this. I know some of
you know this well. What a comfort. This is using
the Word of God as a comfort for your souls. Philippians chapter
1 and verse 6, Paul writes to the Philippians, being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He will perform
that work. He will not let you go. John
chapter 10 verse 27, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my Father's hands. He can't. He's too strong for
that. True faith never quits. It doesn't. Because God keeps his faithful
people. True. True faith never gives
up. As Job wrote all those thousands
of years ago, the righteous shall hold on his way. Why? Because God shall keep him. We're
encouraged often to stand firm, to not be moved by trials. Don't
look at what happens all around us, keep looking to Jesus is
what we should do. As the days end, as the days
shorten, as we head towards the end of time, as I said, I don't
know when it's going to be, But in an hour that you think not,
the Son of Man shall come. What if all others desert you?
Keep trust in Christ. He will keep you and feed you
until He takes you to be with Him to eternity. That's what
He said. I will never leave you nor forsake
you, He said. I will keep you. He's given you
wings of faith to fly into wilderness separation from this world. And
He will nourish you there. He will give you what you need
there until He takes you to glory. And finally, preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. This is what
we must do. Keep preaching the gospel. Verse 14, this gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations and then the end shall come. we're kept here
to preach. That's why we're here. Sovereign
grace and particular redemption is the message we're to preach.
Redemption which is not a possibility, but redemption which is a certainty.
Redemption which is accomplished. Wherever Christ opens a door,
as we saw in the letter to Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago, Wherever
Christ opens the door, ask His guidance to go through it with
the message of accomplished salvation. That's what we should do individually,
that's what we should do as a company of His believing people. Christ
has established righteousness. Christ has satisfied justice
with his shed blood for all his elect, and by his Spirit's irresistible
grace, he gives faith and willingness to believe and to follow. trusting
all else to Him. And with that, I'll finish. There's
a text that you know well. We're going to sing a hymn based
on it. 2 Timothy 1, verse 12. I know whom... How can you live
these days when the end is coming, when there's so much turmoil
all around? There's so many things that you
can't understand and you can't control. This is how. I know
whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded, I'm convinced. that
he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him. What
have I committed unto him? The eternal good of my immortal
soul. in saving grace. And all the
turmoil and the questions of this life now in this world until
He comes again or takes me to be with Him, I know that I'm
persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. That day is coming, that day
of the end of this world when this scaffolding will be taken
down. Amen.