In this sermon, the preacher discusses the topic of the last days and how to live in them. He references 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 3, which talks about people in the last days questioning the promise of Jesus' return. The preacher also shares a story about a conversation he had with a boy about Sunday school and Jacob. He then reads from Revelation chapter 21 verse 9, which describes the bride of the lamb and the holy city of Jerusalem. The sermon concludes with a reminder from Philippians about the importance of being optimistic and believing in the preacher's final words.

Finally Brethren, that's what we were saying the other morning, from Philippians. And we were also saying that the optimist, an optimist is a man in the pew, who believes the preacher when he says, Finally Brethren. Now this is Finally Brethren because I have to move off tomorrow morning at 10.30. Now let us read from the word this evening. I think we will read first of all a verse or two in 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 3. And I'm very glad that Mr. Woodhouse got me out of a great difficulty tonight by saying that the theme for the week has been the last days and how to live in them. The evening and the morning meetings taken together, well that's right, because in the evening we've been talking about, in the evenings we've been talking about the last days, and in the mornings we've been talking about how to live in the last days, how to live before the Lord. So, if you only came in the evenings you'll have to buy the cassettes and learn a little along that line. But I'm quite sure God has spoken to us and given us a little bit of spiritual guidance, how to live in the last days, even in our evening sessions which have been a bit more technical. Chapter 3 of 2 Peter, and verse 3, Knowing this first, that they shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming, that since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation? For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth coming out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. That's the judgment by the flood. For the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. But his long-suffering to us, Lord, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. For the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away, the great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless, and account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. 17. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware, lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, shall fall from your own steadfastness. But growing grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to him be glory, both now and for ever. Amen. Now a few verses in Revelation, chapter 21, verse 9. They came unto me, one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials, or bowls, full of the seven last plagues, and taught with me, saying, Come hither, and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her like was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Verse 21. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, every several gate was one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth to bring their glory and honour into it. The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. They shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. They shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they that are written in the Lamb's book of life. May the Lord bless to us the public reading of Holy Scripture. And the preacher was trying to find his way to his weekend engagement, and he was crossing the common, and he said to one of the boys, Do you know where so-and-so lives? He said, Yes, I'll take you. And as they were going along, the preacher thought he would put a little word in for the Lord, and he said, Now, do you go to Sunday school, my boy? He said, Yes, sir. Well, he said, Tell me, were you there last Sunday? He said, Yes, sir. He said, What did you hear, what did the teacher teach you about on Sunday then? Oh, I remember, he said, it was about Jacob. Did you enjoy it? Very much, sir. Thank you. Well, he said, Were you there the Sunday before? He said, Yes. He said, What did you hear about the Sunday before? Well, he said, They were talking about prayer. Our teacher taught us about prayer the Sunday before. Well, he said, That's very good. I hope you pray, my boy. He said, Yes, sir. Now, he said, Tell me, do you ever have any lesson? Does your teacher ever teach you about the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you had a lesson on him yet? Oh, he said, No, sir, not for a long time yet. That's right the other end of the book. Now, of course, this isn't right the other end of God's book. It's all the way through God's book. Christ in all the Scriptures, and Christ is the answer to our every need. May God give me the grace and you the grace always to minister Christ. Whitefield used to say that preaching Christ is the greatest means of converting sinners and of building saints, and I'm sure that's true. And, of course, in talking from the letter to the Philippians, in the mornings, as we have done, we have been concentrating on the person of Christ because the theme of the letter is Christ is all. For to me, to live is Christ. We've been talking about the gospel of Christ and the mind of Christ and fellowship in Christ and joy in Christ, and it's been Christ all along the line, and it's going to be Christ for you and for me through all eternity, to which we are looking forward with joyful anticipation. Now, let me get my stick. That's it. Now, when I used to conduct children's meetings hundreds of years ago, so it seems, I used to have a cane about four times as long as this, and it was ever so useful, and I used to really know I did. But having the cane and just holding it there, you know, and it helped me to get the attention of every single person. If there was somebody, some boy or girl, not just listening or looking, you know, I'd just give them a little tap on the head, and it was very useful indeed, and I like to hold a cane while I'm speaking. I don't when I'm giving lectures in the college, but I think I'll have to do it. It's very helpful to me, and I hope it doesn't put you off. I don't use the charts too much. I don't mean to say I don't stand right in front of them and keep pointing to them all the time, but I was very pleased to see a number of you came forward last night to verify from the charts what I have been telling you, and that I think is a very good idea. Well, now, with regard to the seven sevens, we were noticing last evening that there were seven churches. It was the evening before. At the beginning of this age of grace, last night we saw there were seven seals, and seven trumpets, and seven signs, and seven last plagues, and seven dooms, and seven new things with which we have to do this evening. There's new Jerusalem. There's the new heaven and earth, new people of God, and a new home to live in, new temple, and God is the new temple, and the new light, and the lamb is the new light, and the new paradise, because the old was lost. You can call this, if you like, paradise regained. And this is how I propose dealing with the subject this evening. First of all, the judgment of the nations, and that's where we ended last night. You see, there's a little bit of that on this side of last night's chart, and now there's a little bit of that on that side, tonight's chart, as it should be. So, we continue in that simple way. The judgment of the nations, and the day of the Lord. And then we shall talk about the thousand years, which is our main subject, and those who participate in it, and how. And then we shall talk about the great white throne, judgment, and God's tomorrow, God's day, and in particular, the missing things, in the order of God's tomorrow. I hope you'll not only find it interesting, but helpful and inspiring, and that your hope will be quickened, and your desire for God enlarged. The judgment of the nations will be at the end of the times of the Gentiles, when Christ comes, as you see at the far side of the chart from here, in power and great glory. This will be after Israel's judgment, which I take it, the tribulation, the great tribulation, really to be the judgment of the nation of Israel. It is the time of Jacob's trouble, and Israel's judgment. That's what we were dealing with last night, you will recall, the seventieth week of Daniel. The last week that Gabriel told Daniel about, in respect to Daniel's people, Israel. And we who belong to Christ at that time, will be in Christ's presence, at His judgment seat, and at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, unlike other judgments, this judgment of the nations, typified here by this balance, this scale, and the sheep one side and the goat the other, this, unlike other judgments, this one falls only on the existing generation of Gentiles upon the earth at that time of Christ coming in glory, delivering His ancient people, and judging the nations. He judges them, first of all, by intervening as they are surrounding Palestine and Jerusalem from the north and south and east, I believe, and west as well. And the forces of the nations are held at bay at the coming of Christ. And they'll see the mark in His hand and say, what are these wounds in thine hands? And He will tell them about the time He came before, and how He was nailed to the tree of Calvary. Now, this judgment has respect to the attitude of the Gentile nations that remain, their attitude to the chosen nation, the nation of Israel. We sometimes use the text by application when we've had some very good hospitality in some Christian home, we write in the guest book, inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these, you did it unto me. I've often been around the world in different countries and have seen a little signature and a little word after it, inasmuch. The signature was Ernest Woodhouse. You see it everywhere I go. And then I put my signature and I put the word in as much. Now, we use that as an application, but really by interpretation it is in connection with the judgment of the nations, as we see in Matthew 24, 25. And the Lord Jesus will judge the nations, the Gentile nations, in relation to their attitude. Now He said, if you have dealt kindly with My people, I shall save you. And if you have rejected them, then I will reject you. Those who are rejected are represented by the goat. And those who are accepted and Gentile nations saved, they will share in the millennium, in the thousand years reign of Christ, in peace over the earth. It says here, Gentile nations participating according to Psalm 22. And so the defeat of the ungodly nations will take place, mainly but not exclusively, at the battle of Armageddon. And that will be Christ's final triumph and Israel's final deliverance and salvation. And the sheep will go into the kingdom and will be reigned over by Christ through Israel. And then, of course, there will be the appearance, He will judge the nations at His coming, and they will appear before Him at the judgment of the nations. Now there are three classes of people, therefore, at this judgment, the sheep and the goats and Christ's brethren. Inasmuch as ye have done it to these my brethren, ye have done it or not done it, as the case might be unto me. Now this coming of Christ in power and great glory to judge the nations is actually the great and terrible day of the Lord. Now Joel in his prophecy speaks of several days of the Lord. They are all days of judgment. Caterpillar judgment, drought judgment, and armies from the north judgment, and so on. And then there is the great judgment, the great and terrible day of the Lord. And this is it. And we have been reading about that in 2 Peter and the third chapter. And at that time, or just previous to that time, there will be the Lord, the scoffers, and the beloved ones, according to this portion, chapter 3 of 2 Peter. As far as the scoffers are concerned, there will be no restraint. They live after their own lusts. And there will be no vision because they see not the sign. And they will have no knowledge of God's plan. They are willingly ignorant. They are ignorant of the sign of the flood we read, judgment then, ignorant of the present signs in the world, and ignorant of the promises of Christ's coming again. So these are the scoffers in the last days according to Peter. And there are a couple of things also that are said here in this context about the Lord himself. That there is no slackness with him regarding his promise. His long-suffering there is. And there is no desire in his heart for judgment, but that all should come to repentance. No word about the beloved ones, and this is what Peter calls God's people, beloved ones. And they are indeed. They are beloved to God's servants, and they are beloved to God, and they are beloved to one another. I am sure we all love one another sincerely with a pure heart, and so we should. And he speaks of his fellow believers as beloved ones in verse 1 and 8 and 14 and 17. In verse 1 he says to them, Be mindful. In verse 8 he says, Be assured. In verse 11 he says, Be godly. And in verse 14 he says, Be diligent. And in verse 17 he says, Be aware. Be mindful of the prophecy of the prophets. Thank God for all those who are Bible students and students of prophecy and seek to understand God's plan in these last days, and prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for his own, and then in power and glory to reign as the glorified Lord. Be mindful not only of the prophecy of the prophets, but of the promises of the apostles in this context. Then he says, Be assured. Be not ignorant of this one thing. A thousand years is with the Lord as a day, and vice versa. It is important that we cast away our ignorance and diligently search the Word of God to see what we are being told is so according to the Scriptures of truth, to the Word and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this Word, then there is no truth in them. You know there are some people who think that it's a good thing to be ignorant, and they criticize everybody that's educated or goes in for education, whether it's Christian education, prophetic education, or any kind. And one brother was complaining about these sophisticated brethren who come and preach and have all the degrees in the world, and he says, You know, brothers and sisters, I thank God for my ignorance. And so one brother got up and he says, Our dear brother has a lot to thank God for. Well, he said, Be not ignorant of this plan of God, and be assured and be godly too. Seeing that all these things should be dissolved, material things are going to pass away. What manner of persons ought we to be? Persons who don't go in for the material and the earthly, but the spiritual and inheritance in the glory. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. You know, Wesley used to say, I'm not quoting Clifford now, I'm quoting Wesley. Wesley used to say that laying up treasure on earth is condemned more in the scripture than adultery and murder. Well, he said, Be godly and be diligent, seeing that all will be new and there will be righteousness reigning in that day, and seek therefore his righteousness now, and walk in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. And then he says, Beware, seeing you know these things, and you've studied the Word, and you understand the prophetic scriptures, you know what's going to be, you should be on your guard. Oh, a few words about the chart and the millennium itself, the thousand years of peaceful reign by our Lord Jesus Christ. It says here, His is the throne. He is going to reign in the place where He was rejected. He was, He came as the King of the Jews and He was rejected. You remember, He was crucified as the King of the Jews. The accusation was written over Him, over His head in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. But when He arose after His death and ascended on high, God made Him at that time King of glory. And that's what He is now. According to Psalm 24, there's a day coming when the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And who is the Lord who is reigning all over the earth? The King of glory. Who is the King of glory? He is the one who is mighty and strong in battle, who has overcome. It is His right to reign on earth as well as be the King of glory. And then He will be King over all the earth. Now, it's His right to reign now, but it's not His time yet. But we feel it will not be long. The Lord Jesus is not reigning on earth now except in one sense. He is not King of kings and Lord of lords now. But He is reigning on earth just in one way now, that is in the hearts of His own. And the kingdom is within you, is among you, is in the midst of you. The kingdom is there if the Lord by His Spirit is there. You can't have a kingdom without a King. And if the Spirit of the King of glory is in your heart, then the kingdom is within you. And Christ is reigning on earth now only in that sense, in your heart. King of my life, I crown thee now. Thine shall the glory be, lest I forget thy form, crowned brow. Lead me to Calvary. So He's going to reign over the earth in that great day. It says His is the throne and His is the crown and His is the scepter and His is the glory. For the earth shall be filled with His glory. From the river to the ends of the earth He shall reign and His enemies shall lick the dust. All nations shall bow before Him, kings and presidents and rulers and queens and prime ministers will bow their knees to the Saviour who shall be King over all the earth in that great day. This of course will be the day of God's Sabbath rest. As it says there, God rested on the Sabbath day. This is the seventh time period. Eternity is not the seventh time period or the seventh dispensation if you prefer that word. This is it, the thousand years. Now God rested on the seventh day in creation not that He wanted a rest. But this is a principle with God. And toward the end of time before eternity dawns, there's going to be this day of rest. God will rest in His labours. God will rest and rejoice in the victory and complete triumph of His dear Son when He sees the Lord Jesus reigning from shore to shore. God was very pleased when He saw a little bit of this once. And He opened heaven and said, this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. There was a foretaste on the mountain transfiguration of Christ's millennial reign. His kingdom glory was revealed for a little while. God was delighted in the open heaven and said, I'm pleased with My Son in His kingdom glory. God will rest in His work. God will rest in the victory of His Son. And all creation shall rest in Him. And what a great day that will be. So, this is the day of Sabbath rest. Talking about the mount of transfiguration, which was really a preview of this period. It came to the free disciples at a time when they needed encouragement because it just told them that He was going to be crucified and slain. And they were in despair. And so He took them up into the mountain and He was transfigured before them. And they saw Him in His kingdom glory. And Peter says, this is good. And He said, we'll make three booths, one for you Lord, one for Moses and one for Elias. And God said, oh no you don't Peter. And a crowd came and obliterated the other two. They saw no man saved, Jesus only. And He had all the glory. Hear Him, see Him, be taken up with Him. And those from the Old Testament and those from the New, and those from Heaven and those from Earth, and those from the resurrection, they were taken up with the glory of Christ in His kingdom. And we're all going to be taken up with the glory of the Lord Jesus in that great day. The Lamb is all the glory in Emmanuel's land. And when Christ reigns over the Earth, He'll have all the glory then. You know, Rutherford served the Lord in a place called Anwoth by the Solway. It was there some little time ago and we saw his tomb. And we had a copy, we got a copy of his hymn. I think there were 35 verses in it. I'm glad they don't put all the 35 verses in our hymn books because it wouldn't be time for the preacher. And I've been called to preach. However, one of the verses puts it this way. Hear Anwoth by the Solway to me thou still art dear, even on the verge of Heaven I'll drop for thee a tear. Oh, if one soul from Anwoth meet me at God's right hand, my Heaven will be to Heaven in Emmanuel's land. Nothing to do with the subject except this. That thank God Emmanuel's land is before us. We're going to be taken up with Him. We'll meet one another. We'll have fellowship together in that great day. But the Lamb is all the glory and our vision will be focused upon Christ, the only worthy One. So the Millennium is the vestibule of the eternal state which is typified here at the end. In Genesis 28, the Lord says, In thee, Abraham, all nations of the earth shall be blessed. So God is through Abraham, Abraham's children and offspring. God or Christ is going to rule on earth through them and the Gentile nations will be blessed through Abraham, that is through his seed, through Israel, who will again be God's agents in the earth at that time. Isaiah 60 says, The Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising. For the Lord Jesus is going to arise with healing in His wings. It will be healing for the Gentile nations. There will be reconciliation for all in that day. 1 Corinthians 15 says, He, the Lord Jesus, must reign. It is imperative that He shall reign till all His enemies are seen to be beneath His feet and He has all the glory, the triumphant Christ. As far as Israel is concerned, you'll notice I have purposely put here, my friend has put it for me, ten tribes restored. There will be the twelve tribes restored for the earth rule of our Lord Jesus Christ. These are seen, pictured in Revelation 7 in the 144,000. And in Isaiah 60 again, the Lord says, In wrath I have smitten you. And that was the captivity of the ten and then the captivity of the two tribes. But He adds, In mercy I will have favour upon you. The gifts and the callings of God are without repentance. His promises to Abraham and to Israel and to David are sure to be fulfilled and this is their fulfilment when Christ reigns through them over the earth. Christ over the earth. Them on the earth. In verse 15 of the same chapter, Isaiah 60, He said, Although you have been hated and you have been forsaken, and this is certainly true about Israel, even today, He says, You shall be made an excellency, an eternal excellency in the earth. So the Lord shall suddenly come to His temple. There will be the reconciliation of all things. There will be no more violence. Walls, the walls will be called salvation. The gates will be called praise. There will be fruitfulness throughout the earth. A handful of corn on the tops of the mountains and the fruit thereof shall shake like lemon. No problems, no restrictions. And that's wrong. It's the leopard that shall lie down with the lamb. But it gives you the right idea. No violence. Perfect peace. Everybody safe. Glorious rest when the Saviour reigns. Now the Lord Jesus, of course, is the heavenly bridegroom. And we, the church, are the bride. And I want to show you at this point something which perhaps you won't agree with. I'll give you a few scriptures. Don't take what I say. Just look up the Word. Because I found in the United States and other parts it's true. A lot of people, good Christian people, are looking forward to spending a thousand years in America the beautiful. Now I would be the first to say it's right. America is America the beautiful. My wife and I have just done a trip 14,000 miles, right across to the Pacific coast, right up the Pacific coast, right round again and back to Florida. And you know it's glorious. It's fantastically lovely. And a lot of Christian people, they want to live in America for a thousand years. But listen, I have a secret for you. There's a better place. I know you don't believe it, but it's true. Heaven is better than America. No kidding. And your hope is a heavenly hope. Your calling is a heavenly calling. You are going home to God. You are going to be in heaven with the Lord Jesus. You're going to have a glorified body to live in glory with. The whole purpose of it. And 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 18 says, The Lord will preserve me to His heavenly kingdom. Now this really is talking about an earthly kingdom. But we have this to consider too. New Jerusalem. And in my opinion, the opinion of a lot of men of God that I know and prophetic teachers, this comes there and not here in the new heaven and new earth department in the eternal state. And in Colossians 1 and verse 5, the apostle is talking about the gospel being preached to them and including the message of the hope of Christ's return. And he says, This hope is laid up for you on earth. No, laid up for you in heaven. And the Lord Jesus said, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am in my Father's home, many resting places, where I am in my Father's home, there you shall be also. You're going home to the Father's home. You belong there. Heaven is your home. You have a heavenly calling. You are a heavenly people. And Israel's calling is earthly. And Christ is going to reign through them during this time. And we are going to reign with Him. And the preposition is we shall reign over the earth, not on the earth. It's true. He's going to come with ten thousand of His saints. And His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives. And He shall enter the Jerusalem on earth in the Middle East, the one where you and I know so well. But at the same time, we're going to be with Him in the New Jerusalem, enjoying His presence forever. Ours is a heavenly calling. 1 Peter 1.4 says, The inheritance that you have is laid up for you in heaven. And in 1 Corinthians 15.49 it says, We shall bear the image of the heavenly. I can see all of you now, and you're all bearing the image of the earthly. Thank God it's going to change, especially thank God in my case, because we are going to be transformed to be like the Saviour and to have a body of glory like His. And transformed to bear the image of the heavenly. Now, New Jerusalem, we were reading in the Scripture tonight, was seen coming out of heaven. It doesn't say coming to the earth. Out of heaven. Prepared as a bride, adorned as a bride for her husband. He said, I'm going to show you the Lamb's wife. And He showed him the New Jerusalem. Now, there's going to be two Jerusalems then. One on earth and one in heaven. I'm going to be in the heavenly one. And I'll tell you why, you see. Well, in the New Jerusalem there is no sun. They don't need any sun there. The Lord Jesus is the light. In the New Jerusalem there's no temple. They don't need a temple there. God is the temple. We should be in the presence of God. In the New Jerusalem there's no night there. But in the old Jerusalem on the earth, all the way through this one thousand years there's going to be day and night, day and night, day and night. There's going to be the sun coming up during the day as it's been all through the years. But not in the New Jerusalem. And ours is a heavenly calling. And the glory shines before us, beloved. So just a word or two now about the release of Satan here at the end of a thousand years. After Christ's glorious reign, Satan is going to be loosed by God. Because although there has been the differentiation there at the judgment of the nations between the sheep and the goats and the sheep, the Gentile nations have shown favour to the Jews and will take part in this millennial reign of Christ on earth or over the earth. They will be on the earth. Yet you see, they are not saved in the same sense as we are, regenerate and born again. And even after a thousand years' reign of Christ, it's going to be revealed by God releasing Satan. But the heart of man is no different after all. And there will be a rebellion against God instigated by Satan. And there will be fire from God consuming them at the end of that period. And then there will be, of course, the judgment of the great white throne. Very briefly now. Get the idea. It's going to be a great throne. It's for those who were not raised at the first resurrection, at the coming of Christ, at the rapture of the church. They are raised in their sin because they have died in their sin and they are raised for just judgment and condemnation because they are judged according to the books and according to their works. And twice over it says according to their works. I don't believe in the theory which says it's now only the son question and the sin question has been settled at the cross. The sin question has been settled at the cross only for those who believe in Jesus. And for this cause the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. And there's a list of sins there. So the sin question hasn't been settled altogether. It has for those who believe, thank God. And it says in the coming day these sins are going to be there right before the face of those who are raised for the judgment of the great white throne and they are judged according to their works. Now quickly, it's a great throne. There is divine authority. It is a white throne. There is divine righteousness. And there's Him that sat on it, Christ. For God is going to judge the world by that man whom He has ordained to be the judge of the quick and the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. There is the divine judge. And the dead shall stand there. There is divine power in raising the wicked dead. And they'll stand before God and that is divine justice. And the books are opened and there are the divine records. And there's the book of life and that is the divine standard. And they were judged according to their works and that is divine retribution and death and hell were there to die again. Those that were raised and judged and condemned were sent to their second death and that's divine sorrow. For as I live, saith the Lord, I have just no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die? And those that were not found written in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire and that is divine punishment. Now that must be the fire of the wrath of God on the guilty conscience of the lost. On the guilty conscience of the Christ rejecter there was the rich man in hell but his body was in the grave. His body wasn't being burned but there was the wrath of God on his guilty conscience and that's what it's going to be. Just as I close now, just give me a couple of minutes. Thank God that although today these present things around us are earthly, worldly and most evil, there are a lot of these things that are going to be absent in that great eternal day, the day of God, the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. It's going to be glorious. You see, the former things are passed away. All things are become new. What about the missing things then, that are gone, things that are going to pass away? The missing things in the order of God's tomorrow. Well, there will be no more curse, the consequence of sin has gone. There will be no more sea, the symbol of separation has gone. There will be no more war, the inevitability of godlessness. The wars will be ended. There will be no more death, the result of the fall will have finished. And there will be no more pain, the sign of suffering will be over forever. And there will be no more tears, the sign of sorrow is gone. There will be no more sun, no need of the sun. The Lord is the glory, the Lamb is the light. The terrestrial light fades in His eternal light and the glory. And there is no more time. This is the eternal state. And there is no more sin. Righteousness shall reign eternally. And there is no more part knowledge in the order of God's tomorrow. Because then shall we know, even as we are known, and we shall know then as God knows us now. Now it's very difficult, practically impossible to describe to you the glory of the New Jerusalem, the wonder of the city paved with gold, and the Lord God being the temple and Jesus being the light and the gates of pearl, and our power with Christ in His reign over the earth, just as we are in His death in God's view, and just as we are in His risen life in God's view, and just as we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies in God's view, so in God's view we shall be in Christ's reign, although we shall be in the New Jerusalem with the Saviour. And what was I going to say? The Lord Jesus Christ will reign triumphantly and we shall share His glory and share His reign, as now we share His rejection. David had two friends. The one was Jonathan, and David was rejected, although he was the anointed king, and he had to go into the wilderness, and Jonathan let him go. And he went back and dwelt with the king Saul, a man that God had rejected because of his sin. Later on, after David had been reigning a long time, a usurper came, his own rebellious son, and stole the kingdom from him. David again went into the wilderness, over the rock Kidron, which means obscurity. He was again the rejected king, but after both occasions, he came back to reign. Now in the first case, when Saul was slain and they sent to David in the cave of Adalaman, and said, come to the city and reign over us and be our king, he did. And they put the crown on his head and everybody said, God save the king! And the shepherd boy had now become the king. And where was Jonathan? Jonathan was dead. Now later on, when Absalom was slain, at least he was riding through a wood on horseback, caught his head in the branches, hung there till he died. And they told David, and David wept and mourned for his son. You would think he was the choicest boy that ever lived. He said, oh Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son, would to God I had died for thee. Anyway, they sent for David. They said, come back to the city and reign over us once more. And he did. And they put the crown on his head and everybody said, God save the king! And the rejected king was now back and on the throne. And where was Ittiai the Gittite, who at that second time went with him over the brook and shared his rejection? He came back with him and he shared his glory and he shared his reign. And our Lord, as you know, is now rejected but He is coming in power and glory. And when He comes in bright array and leads the conquering line, as He surely will, it will be glory then to say that He is a friend of mine. We must follow Him now into His rejection and do His will completely whatever we suffer for it and then get His well done and share His glory in the day of His reign, in the day of His power. Let us pray. O God, until that great day when the Saviour appears first of all for His own and then to reign as the glorified Lord, keep us near to Thee, doing Thy will, resting in the sufficiency of the almighty indwelling Spirit, receiving grace to bear the trial and to suffer for the Saviour's sake, looking forward to the glory of His reign and our anticipation and participation in it, unworthy though we be. And until that day, may the grace of Christ be with us all. Amen.