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. 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 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
situations. And he 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
passeth away. It's right now in the process
of being consumed. It is right now in the process
of being consumed. As you said at the stoplight,
gas hand sitting almost on empty and the motor's 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's
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 woe. We live in a world in which everything
is temporal. 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. 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 are 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
temporal. 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. My God, whatever it
is, 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. 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 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 must confess,
I myself am far too guilty. But when I see that, Bob, It
kinda reminds me of the idea of a grown man sittin' down in
a sandbox playin' with Tonka toys. I expect to see Sammy's
boy sittin' in the sandbox playin' with Tonka toys when the summertime
comes. Dig the ground and move it around and just play and have
a good time. It's all irrelevant to him. He's just havin' 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? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? We raise our sons and daughters
youth up from their smallest childhood, taking great care,
with great concern to prepare them for everything in this world.
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 soul? What have we done
for their soul? 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 in eternity. The happiness or the
misery, my 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 gonna find
many folks who preach that any stronger than I do. I don't think
you're gonna 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 forever. 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 on me 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. As Mark prayed 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 faith. 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 gone through your
mind, all the things of the day that have concerned you, taken
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's 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, secondly, turn to
2 Corinthians 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 am God, and there's none else. I am God, and 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,
saying, 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 it 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. Somebody says, 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. All 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 four. 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 Dahmers and the Husseins 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 devil. And one of these days, he's going
to show everybody how all things, including the wicked, give praise
to him. Everything. 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's put all enemies under his feet. He sits yonder on the throne
of glory, and sits 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, in 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 rules 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. Put it down. Put it down like
a Like an army comes and clutches a rebellion, put it down like
a worker puts down a tool. Put it down like a man lays down
a weapon, he's gonna put it all down, all of it. All civil rule,
civil authority and civil power, democratic and republican, all
of it. He's gonna put it down. Communist
and democracy, he's gonna put it down. All rule 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's gonna put it down. He's gonna 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. 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 has all enemies under his feet, That
means Paul Wendell, the whole body of Christ, has 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, someway, 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 good. Preacher, you surely don't believe
that. I believe it with every fiber of my being. With every
fiber of my being. The world, he'll put under his
feet. Death, judicial death, spiritual
death, the second death, physical death, everything under his feet
and under our feet. Now fourth thing, 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 rule and 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 does 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. Well, what then does Paul mean? 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. 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 finished all the work you gave me to do. All your purpose of
grace, all the counsel of peace, all the covenant of which I'm
a surety is now finished. And here, all your chosen, all
my redeemed, all who've been called by the blessed Spirit,
here they are, every one of them, holy, unblameable, 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 before him. 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. Now, this 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 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 hearts. 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. Amen.