Turn with me please to Hebrews
and chapter 12 and verse 18, Hebrews 12 verse 18, where we
read the following. For ye are not come unto the
mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor
unto blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet
and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated
that the word should not be spoken to them any more. for they could
not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. But ye are come unto Mount Zion,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of Sprinklin, that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that
speaketh. For if they escape not who refused
him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then
shook the earth. But now he hath promised, saying,
yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signifyeth
the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receive in a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is
a consuming fire. We're not come unto the mount
that might be touched, But we are come unto Mount Zion, unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the
mediator of the new covenant. What a different scene we have
here presented of that reality of which those who believe on
Christ are partakers of. Of that reality in which they
gather, of gathering unto Mount Zion, the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem. to this vast company gathered
above who gather with us when we come into the presence of
God. What a different scene this is to that which the world around
us presents as reality. For the world around us and those
that live in it and we ourselves by nature can see nothing but
that which can be touched, handled and felt in the physical realm. The world around us sees nothing
but the people it meets each and every day, the places it
goes to. And in our day and age, the world
around us looks upon the church, Christianity, the children of
God, the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, as few and as of
little consequence. It looks upon them as those who
follow religion and superstition and myths that their forefathers
used to follow, but which man today has risen above and gone
beyond. and the reality that they would
have paint for us is that all that is real is that which can
be seen, that which can be touched, that which can be scientifically
measured. All that is real is this physical
realm in which we live. And to speak of a spiritual realm,
to speak of a God that created the heavens and the earth, to
speak of a life beyond death, to speak of sin and righteousness,
to speak of heaven and hell, to speak of damnation and of
salvation is to them to speak of things which are for a former
day mere superstitions, not real. And yet the reality is the complete
opposite. For everything that is in this
world which can be touched which can be seen. It's temporal. It's passing. It's there but
for a moment. It's transient. It's gone before
you know it. The world would have us believe
as it were that we will live in this world physically as though
we are immortal. Everyone lives as though they're
going to live each and every day as though the next day they
will wake up in the morning and they will carry on going. They
know the reality of death but they choose not to look at it.
They know the reality that they were not here a hundred years
ago. And that they will really not
be here in a hundred years time. And yet they choose not to look
upon these things or to seek for any answers or question them.
They look upon that which is physical only. And they look
upon death as simply the closing of a chapter. They live, they
die and there is nothing beyond it. There's nothing outside of
what can be seen to them. How foolish this is. How foolish
it is because how fleeting life is. How the 70 years or so that
man lives upon this earth goes in a moment, in a flash. This world which celebrates youth
and presents such opportunities to youth. As though you're going
to be young forever. As though you're going to be
strong forever. Fools people. For you're young
but for a moment. And your childhood days soon
are replaced by adulthood. And your early adulthood is soon
replaced by ageing adulthood. And you're soon an old man facing
the grave. It's gone in a moment. and all
the pleasures and opportunities and riches that this world presents
to us are soon taken away. There's nothing lasting in them,
there's nothing real. They're like a mirage that you
grab hold of in the desert as you stumble about and it's there
for a moment and as you touch it, it's gone. And there's nothing
left to sustain you. You're thirsty. You need drink
and there's nothing in these things to satisfy that first. The reality is that there is
life outside of this life. There is an eternal realm which
cannot be seen physically. There is that which is outside
of time. There is that which was here
before the world was ever created. There is that which will be around
when the world is no more. And there are those things which
are outside the physical world that we look upon with our natural
eyes. There is a God who spake and
brought this world into being. There is a God who made each
and every one of us and who sustains our life by his word. Our hearts continue to beat at
his command and they stop at his command. Our lives are not
in our hands or in our control, whatever we may think. We're
in the hands of Almighty God. we may mock him and scoff him
and deride his message and his gospel and those who follow him
and speak of him and we may think we can say these things with
impunity but all is heard and all his is recorded and he can
brush us aside in a moment and one day whether we enter eternity
and stand before him today, tomorrow or in a hundred years time, one
day we will all stand before Him and one day we will all be
called to give an account for those things which we have done
in this world, for those things which we have said in this world,
for those things which we have fought in this world, especially
concerning the truth of God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
what we think of Christ and the message of Christ and his salvation,
the message of his gospel is vital What you think of this
message and the truth that God created this world, the truth
that he created you, the truth that you have turned from him,
the truth that you have rejected him and gone your own way, the
truth that you have fallen into sin and you are a dead corrupt
sinner by nature, The truth that your deeds are recorded and you
will be judged at the end of time by an almighty and a holy
judge of all the earth and you will give an account for your
deeds before him. The truth that this God who will
judge all men is righteous and holy and just and does all things
well. The truth that this God is not
only just but he is also a God of love and a God of mercy. And
in love and mercy he sent his only son into this world to pay
the price for the sins of man. to come into this world and to
die upon a cross when he was crucified, not as a failed leader
of some religion who was put to death by his opponents, but
as Almighty God who in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
came as the savior of his own, came to die, came to take the
judgment of God against the sins of his people and to take it
away through his own death. rather than by slaying them.
What you think of these truths, what you think of the truth that
Christ died to save a people and that he truly rose again
the third day victorious over death, having conquered death,
having taken away their sins, having saved that people, and
that he rose again into heaven and sat down on the right hand
of God and from that height he sent forth the message of this
gospel, the message of his salvation, that he died, that he rose again,
that he has made salvation for his own. For those who are brought
to see that they are sinners before a holy God, for those
who are brought to see that they are not righteous but need righteousness
to stand before a holy God, to those who are brought to see
that salvation lies in believing upon Christ and his blood shed
for them. What you believe about these
things, these truths, determines your eternal destiny. These are
no myths, they are not as the scriptures say cunningly devised
fables which we have followed. They are real. And Christ truly
sits upon the right hand of His Father. Christ truly is the Son
of God. Christ truly is. As the second
person of the Godhead, He is God. There is one God in three
persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Christ the Son of God
is God. He is the Judge of all. He is
alive today and we all will see Him one day. These things are
true. And it is true that outside of
this physical realm there is an eternal realm. There is a
place called heaven and there is a place called hell. There
is that place of darkness and suffering to which all those
who reject Christ and his gospel will be sent as those who are
condemned for their sins, condemned for their rebellion against God
and his truth. an awful place, a dreadful place,
not a place of myth but a reality to which many have been plunged. into which you will plunge if
you go to your grave, shaking your fist at Almighty God and
your Creator, refusing Him that speaketh from heaven, refusing
His gospel, refusing His Son, shutting your ears to the truth,
counting it a wearisome thing, a bothersome thing, something
that will spoil your fun in this world. If you refuse these things
then you will be plunged into that awful, awful place called
hell. And it's not something that's
made up by preachers to scare people. They make it known because
it's real. And the wisdom of man, the wisdom
of the youth, is to wake up to these things. to wake up to the
reality of these things, to wake up to the reality of what we
are before God and our great need of salvation by Jesus Christ
and to seek salvation, to cry out unto God that he might have
mercy upon us and not judge us according to our sins. As the
writer here says, see that ye refuse not him that speaketh.
Who speaks? God from heaven above, by Christ
his Son through the Holy Spirit. He makes known these truths into
an evil and a dark world. He shines his light. He makes
it known because it's true. Though the world below says it's
not true, God speaks and says it is. Who are you going to listen
to and who are you going to refuse? Will you listen to man and the
popular opinion on earth that rejects God and his gospel and
that leads millions to their grave and to destruction? Or
will you listen to God's message from on high and refuse not him
that speaketh from heaven above? There were those who heard the
voice of God on earth The children of Israel at Mount Sinai heard
his voice, they heard his declaration of the need for righteousness.
And they turned aside and turned to sin, even while God was giving
the law of God on Mount Sinai to Moses, the Ten Commandments. The people rose up to sin and
God judged them in that day. He opened up the earth and thousands
died. They refused him that spake on
earth. Well if they did not escape God's
wrath in that day, how much more shall we not escape if we turn
away from Almighty God who speaks from heaven above today? His
voice shook the earth then. Do you hear his voice today? For this God is a consuming fire. outside of Christ, outside of
his salvation, outside of his saving grace, he is a consuming
fire. When we pass from this world
into the next, when our life draws to a conclusion, when we
die, either when we're old, or when illness takes us, or when
some so-called accident takes us, when a bus knocks us down,
however it may be, when we enter into the next world, if we know
not God through Christ, then we will know Him to be a consuming
fire. Do you know God? What is He to
you? What right have you got to expect
heaven from a God who looks upon you and your sins as a consuming
fire. Where are you going when you
die? Thousands are deluded, millions are deluded to think that if
there is a God, then he's some sort of Father Christmas God,
who loves all men and surely if I die and there is a God and
there is a heaven, there is an afterlife, well I hope that I've
been quite good and I'm gonna go to heaven. What folly, what
reason have you who have no thought for God, no care for God, who
in your heart reject him and act like he does not exist, what
reason have you to think that he will treat you with such love
when you've treated him with such hatred? He is a consuming
fire. There is a world outside this
world. There is a God outside this world. There is a hell,
but there is also a heaven. There is a heaven, and there
is a multitude in that heaven. There are those who have gone
to heaven, well how have they got to heaven? Not because they're good. Not
because they deserve it. And not because they blindly
enter death thinking that all will be well with their soul,
when all their life they have hated and despised God and his
truth. There is a multitude in heaven
who have come to know the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who have come to know the truth
that Christ came into this world to save sinners. Who've come
to know that Jesus who is the mediator of the new covenant,
the blood of sprinkling, They've come to know that Christ the
Son of God, Jesus, came into this world and shed his blood
for sinners. And they've come to know that
he shed his blood for them. And he took his blood and he
washed them in it. And having washed them, he blotted
out all their sins and all their transgressions. And they come
to know that though they are like all men, sinners, as bad
or if not worse than everyone else, as deserving of the wrath
of God forevermore as everyone else, they've come to know wonderfully
that God has purposed not to judge them. But God gave His
only begotten Son as a ransom. as a ransom price to deliver
them from captivity. That He gave His only begotten
Son to redeem them, to set them free. That He gave His only begotten
Son to take the burning wrath of God against their sins and
to swallow it up for them. To drink the cup of God's wrath
that they deserve to drink that they might be spared. They come
to know the grace of God. which brings salvation. The grace,
the love, the mercy, the wonderful love and mercy that sets sinners
free, that delivers them from the wrath to come and brings
them into heaven's glory, that promises them eternal life, everlasting
salvation, that takes away their sin and replaces it with the
righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Have you come to know
this? Do you know anything of this,
of this salvation, of this Jesus, of the mediator of the new covenant?
Do you know him? Do you know that when you pass
from this world that you will not be condemned, but that you
will enter into eternal glory into that place we call heaven?
the heavenly Jerusalem. Is that your hope that you will
go there? If it is, what is that hope based
upon? Is it based upon the blood of
Jesus sprinkled for you, sprinkled upon a mercy seat in glory above
for you, sprinkled upon your heart as the Spirit has made
him known unto you. Is that your hope? Do you know
that Christ died? Do you believe Him? Do you know
Him? Have you heard His voice calling
out unto you from heaven above? And have you ceased to refuse
that voice? But have you heard it and received
it? Has the Spirit of God opened
your blind eyes and blind ears to hear? And to cease to kick
against it and to refuse it and to turn from it? but to recognize
the truth of what is spoken, to recognize the truth of what
is spoken about your state before God, and to recognize the truth
of the gospel of Jesus Christ and what he did. If you have
come to that point, if God has made Christ known unto you, if
salvation has come unto you, if Christ has come unto you,
If you have a hope of entering heaven's glory, the heavenly
Jerusalem, then you will be aware of what the writer here speaks
of as a reality, as a reality concerning what we come into
the presence of when we come unto God. That those who have
come to know Christ and His salvation, His children, His blood-bought
children, those for whom He died, His church, no longer come, as
it were, unto that Mount Sinai from whence God gave the law
by the hand of Moses. They no longer come unto the
place that condemns them. They no longer come unto that
which condemns them and which finds out their sin. They no
longer come unto the law the Law of God, the Ten Commandments,
which condemns them, for it finds out that they've broken every
command. They no longer come unto that
awful place. And they don't simply come into
a physical place on earth either. They don't simply meet with one
another here below, conscious and aware of only those whom
they can see. But when they come before God,
They come unto Mount Zion, unto the City of the Living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem. They come before the presence
of God in eternal glory. And they come before that church,
that people, that company, who have already entered heaven's
glory. When we meet on earth, as followers
of Jesus Christ, however few, However few, however despised
by the world around us, we come and we meet with a great company
above. As chapter 12 of Hebrews opens,
wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses. There's so many whom the writer
recorded in chapter 11 of those who live by faith, of those who
believe that Christ would come and save his own, of those who
have died and gone before us. There are so many who are now
in heaven's glory in the heavenly Jerusalem, gathered around the
throne of God, looking unto Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.
They're there. They sit around the throne glorifying
the Son of God. They're there and when we gather
here on earth, when the church is gathered, it comes into their
presence, it comes unto Mount Zion, that mountain of grace,
that mount of salvation, that mount of God. It comes unto the
city of the living God. It comes unto the heavenly Jerusalem,
not the earthly. but unto that Jerusalem which
is above, that Jerusalem in which Christ reigns and which his people
reign with him, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.
and they come to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant. When we gather, the reality is that we gather with
a vast multitude. We can't see them with our eyes,
but they're there. They're gathered around the throne
of the Lamb of God with us. When we speak of Christ, when
we hear of Him, when we hear His voice in the Gospel, we hear
that voice coming down from above, which is sounded in heaven above. And there's a great multitude
gathered around Him in heaven above, praising and glorifying
His name. We're not alone. Whether we're
gathered two or three, whether we're on our own, whether we
come before God with a Bible and hear a gospel message preached
perhaps, whether we're on our own and we feel so isolated.
The reality is, is that when we come before God, we come unto
a great multitude. There are those above who have
walked the pathway that we tread now. they know what it is to
be isolated they know what it is to be alone in this dark and
evil world They know what it is to be cast out by this world,
to be scorned and rejected by all around. They know what it
is, like Christ their shepherd whom they follow, they know what
it is to be despised and rejected of all men. They've trodden that
way and so many before us have even been put to death, martyred
for their testimony of Jesus Christ. Put to death, hated by
all men. They know the suffering below.
But they also know that it's but for a moment. It went quickly. And in reality it's a light affliction
which worked for them a far greater weight of glory. For now they're
with their Lord and their Saviour. Now they're seated around the
throne of the Lamb of God in glory above. Now they've entered
into that rest for which they laboured. Oh, when they journeyed
below and the world hated them, it was hard. It is hard. When they were so few, they felt
so alone. When so many came with so many
errors to lead them astray, they felt so confused, so weak. And yet God kept them and led
them in to that eternal rest. in which they are gathered now.
Oh, can you see it? Can you sense it? Do you long
for it? Believe a child of God, do you
long for it? Do you look up to it? Do you
long to enter into that rest above? To be with that company
gathered? Do you believe you're with them
now? The General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn is your
name written in heaven now. Do you look by faith as you journey
now to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant? Well if you
do, there's only one reason that you do when others don't. There's
only one thing that makes you to differ from the world around
you that despise and reject these things. There's only one reason
why you receive and believe these things today when one day you
too despised and rejected these things. When one day you too
went after your own ways, your own things, your own glory. There's
only one thing that sets you apart. There's only one thing
that sets you apart and that's grace. That's grace. God chose you. God looked upon
you from eternity past. He looked upon you in time in
grace. He said, though you're a rebel,
though you hate me, though your sins are as scarlet, nevertheless,
I love you. I have set my love upon you.
I have given my son for you, and I will make him known unto
you. And I will not judge you according to your iniquities,
but I will reward you, reward you according to my great mercy,
according to grace. It's all of grace, salvation
is all of grace, wondrous grace. That's why we come to Mount Zion,
not the Mount Sinai, which cannot be touched. not to that mount
which burned with fire, not unto blackness and darkness and tempest,
not unto the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which
we could not bear, not unto condemnation, but we come unto Zion, the mountain
of life, of righteousness, of salvation. We come unto that
place from whence grace pours down from heaven above, not law,
not works and condemnation, We've been to that place of works.
We've strived all we can and we found it to be hopeless. We're too weak. Too evil, too
corrupt. Even when we strove to do right,
we found ourselves in a sinking direction. The more we strove,
the worse it got. The more we tried to do right,
the more wrong we did. The more we tried to be good,
the worse our hearts became. The more aware we became of how
rotten we are inside. We've been to that mount and
it slew us. But we've not come to that mount,
we've come to a mount of grace. of grace, because we're weak,
but God is strong. The spirit is willing, but our
flesh is weak. We're easily knocked down, easily
afraid, easily doubting, easily stumbling. But our salvation
doesn't depend on our strength, on our wisdom, on our knowledge,
on our ability, on our righteousness. doesn't depend on how strong
we are, how wise we are, how great we are. It is, it was and
it always shall be by grace and by grace alone. Salvation is
by grace. Believer, do you know it? Do
you rejoice in it? It's by grace. that's which that
is that which sets us free which sets us at liberty if it wasn't
we'd forever be under bondage knowing that we needed to strive
harder knowing that we needed to do better and feeling guilty
every day because we know we don't but salvation is by grace. It's God the Spirit that drew
us to this mount. He did a work of grace to lead
us there, to show us first what an awful place Sinai was, to
show us our condemnation, but then to take us by the way of
a cross to that place where we see that our sins have been blotted
out by Christ, that blood has been shed to wash them away.
and that God has made known his grace unto us in making us righteous
in Christ freely through his own mercy. It's by grace. Oh, remember that whenever you
come, whenever you gather, whenever you speak of the things of God.
Whenever you talk to your brethren or your sisters or to the world
around you, remember that salvation is by grace. Remember what makes
you differ. Nothing in yourself. Nothing
of your own wisdom or knowledge. It's God that makes you differ.
Because he chose you. Because he elected you from the
foundations of this earth. Because he chose to set his love
upon you despite what you are. because of his grace. Remember
that when you get caught up with doctrine. and how right the truth
is and how wrong so many others are. When you get worked up about
why these are saying that and why those are doing that. Why
can't others see these things? Why can't they see what you see? Why can't they do what you do?
Why won't they make the sacrifices for God that you have? Why won't
they go the way that you have gone? Oh remember when you look
upon them and their errors to have pity upon them for there
but by the grace of God go you and I. That's where we went and
that's where we'd go if it were not for the God that showed us
grace to deliver us from it. There's nothing in us, nothing
in our wisdom or knowledge that separates us from these awful
things but that God has shown us grace Oh, be humble with it. There's nothing we have that
we have not received. No knowledge of the truth, no
knowledge of Christ, no knowledge of salvation, that God alone
has not made known freely by grace unto us. It's by grace. It's by grace. Grace that made us different.
Grace that took foolish you and me and separated us under God. Grace that saves, grace that
sustains and grace that will lead us into our eternal rest
into that heavenly Jerusalem. Only grace will take us there. Only grace will lead us into
rest. But grace will lead us into rest
if God has given it unto us. One of the themes of the book
of Hebrews is this entering into rest. and that we enter into
it not by works, not by an earthly priesthood, but by that one priesthood
of Christ, who laid down his life once and for all, who shed
his blood once and for all, and entered in as the orphaned finisher
of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right
hand of the throne of God. consider him that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself lest you be wearied and
faint in your minds. You come a hard pathway but he's
gone before you. He's gone in there and he's gone
in there to lead you into rest, into eternal rest. He's done
all the work that his people should cease from working and
should receive all freely. by grace, that they should, that
they will one day enter into that place called the heavenly
Jerusalem. What a hope the church has set
before it, what a hope, what a glory to come, no matter what
the trials are here below. We have a wonderful hope set
before us. We've considered much of the
church and what it is, but ultimately the church is simply that people
for whom Christ died, that people whom he washed in his blood,
that people upon whom he set his grace, that people who one
day will enter into this rest. We remain here on earth for one
reason and one reason only, to testify of Christ and his salvation,
to be a light in a dark world, to make known Christ's gospel
to others, because there are yet lost sheep in this world
whom Christ has yet to gather in by his Spirit. That's the
only reason the church remains on earth, and it only is here
to testify of that salvation. And when its work is done, when
the last sinner has been saved, then Christ will return. Then
he will return in almighty power. He will come down from above.
The heavens and the earth will be burnt up, wrapped up as a
scroll. And a great company will come
with Christ and gather in all people. The sheep shall be separated
from the goats. All men shall stand before him.
Some will be sent off into condemnation. those who refused him that speaker
from heaven and a great multitude those who know his grace those
who know christ those who have washed their robes in the blood
of the lamb shall enter into eternal glory what a hope what
a picture what a scene we read of this in john's account in
the book of Revelation, some wonderful pictures of that great
company around the throne of God. We read earlier from Revelation
in chapter 7, where John records, I beheld and lo, a great multitude,
which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and
people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. and cried
with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb. Oh, what a company! They're there
now. And when we gather before God,
before the Lamb upon that throne, we gather with that company now. Are you one with them? Are you
clothed by God in a white robe? Are you crying from your heart,
Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb? Oh, what a scene! John writes,
One of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which
are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they? And I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation. Great tribulation
here below, great suffering for Christ's sake, great opposition
from all men round about them who despise God's truth. Do you
know that? Believer, do you know what it
is to be in great tribulation, to know the opposition to the
truth of Christ and his gospel? Well these came out of great
tribulation and they washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the
throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And
he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. Neither shall
the sunlight on them nor any heat, for the lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them
unto living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Oh what a wondrous place, a place
where all suffering is gone, where all sadness is gone, where
there's no more tears, no more hunger, no more thirst, no more
sin, no more rebellion, no more opposition, no more tribulation. There's peace forevermore, righteousness
forevermore, everlasting life forevermore, hope and glory forevermore,
joy forevermore, life forevermore. Is that where you're heading?
Is that your hope? Is that your expectation? Do
you look for it? Do you hope for it? Have you
washed your robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb?
Has the Spirit made known His blood as having cleansed you
from all your unrighteousness? Are you going to stand there
one day in a white robe, with palms in your hands, glorifying
the Son of God, the Lamb of God, upon His throne? Well, it's coming. Believer, it's certain, it's
sure, it's coming. It's but a moment away. You may
think I'm young, I might have to endure this pathway for many
years. Yes, but it will go in a blink
and you will be there. And when you gather now, you
gather with that company who are there already. It's coming. It's coming, Christ is coming,
his return is imminent. The believers in the New Testament
2,000 years ago were exhorted to look for Christ's coming,
to treat it as imminent even then. Well we're 2,000 years
later, we don't know the time of when he will come. But we
know that we should look for it being imminent. We know that
we should live every day as though this could be the day. when Christ
returns in power to gather in his people when we will be with
him this could be the day when we enter into eternal glory whether
we pass from this life into the next because we die for some
reason or whether Christ returns in power this could be the day
when we're with him are you looking for him do you cry out each and
every day come Lord Jesus come Do you? Are you looking? Do you
have that hope? Has God sealed that hope in your
heart? Made you sure of your interest
in the Saviour's blood? Has he taken his blood and sprinkled
it by grace upon your heart? Do you know that you're going
to be there? Oh don't be cast down, don't be crushed down by
the trials of this world, by the hardness of the way, the
hardness of the pilgrimage. Know that all that comes your
way are the things that God sends you by grace, to work together
for the good of them that are called to them that love the
Lord. Know that they are from his hand and know that they are
but for a moment, they are a light affliction which work if together
a greater weight of glory. and know that in a moment you
will be with the saints, with those who have washed their robes
in the blood of the Lamb, you will be with them around that
throne. around that throne, around the
throne of Him who says, at the end of the Bible, at the end
of the Revelation, at the end of this testimony, until the
last day, He says, He which testifies these things saith, surely I
come quickly. I come quickly. Amen. Even so, even so, come
Lord Jesus, come. We look for you, come. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.