In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of regret and the certainty of the afterlife. He emphasizes that once a person is in the prison of death, there is no going back to life or forward to paradise. The preacher also addresses questions about the interval between death and resurrection. He explains that the ultimate destiny of individuals in this interval is determined by their response to Christ and the light they have received in their lives. The preacher concludes by stating that our actions in this life not only determine our destiny in the afterlife but also impact the intermediate stage between death and resurrection.

The law clearly indicates that memory will still be active and regret will be one of the most awful things to bear. The regret of knowing that your life is over, that death has sealed your decisions, that your future course is set, and that there is really no altering now. Three things can be said about the prison, all of which are definite. First, you cannot go back from that prison to life itself. Our Lord clearly said this. The second thing we can say definitely is that they cannot go forward to the garden, they are in custody, awaiting appearance of court, and there is no bail. Thirdly, they must go forward from that to something else. This is not a permanent condition, it is the interval of waiting. Now I turn to paradise, and here we find some lovely things. It is not the palace, but the park surrounding the palace. That is how we are to think of it. A step nearer to our heavenly home, much nearer. And there are certain things about this garden which are lovely. Can I say straight away that in the interval we need not worry about the question where. Being disembodied spirits, spatial relationships, places, don't apply. So to ask where are they is to ask a question that cannot be answered. When we get to the third stage we can begin to talk of a place. I go to prepare a place. But we are not to think of the garden or the prison as necessarily a spatial place. Disembodied spirits don't need a place. We are talking about states. Secondly, I am not sure that we are greatly helped by asking what is it like, any more than by asking where is it. But there is one question I find a lot of people ask. Are we awake or asleep? Are we in a kind of Rip Van Winkle state, asleep over the centuries. It's interesting that his first name is on so many tombstones. Are we in a state of sleeping? The next thing we know. Now there's no doubt about it that the New Testament has a number of passages of sleep in the Lord. But the point I want to make is this. Souls, spirits, cannot. Sleep is a physical function. Only bodies can sleep. And therefore the phrase fallen asleep, I'm quite sure, refers to the appearance of the body. Physically a person is asleep when they are dead. It is their appearance. It is a very good word to describe their condition. It also carries the possibility of the body being woken up. But I think we're on very thin ice if we start applying the word sleep to spirits as well as to bodies. And believe in what is called. The real question about the interval is this. And the glorious thing. We shall be with Christ. Now if I'm unconscious that doesn't attract me one bit. I would say that's a good deal worse than. No one would ever have. It's quite clear that the end is unconscious. And the spirit can be conscious. During his lifetime he went to heaven, paid a visit, and indeed you are. And so I believe that we look forward to consciousness only with Christ, with all Christ's people. Whether they lived before or after him, he is. Abraham rejoiced to see my days, said Jesus, and he was glad to see Jesus' days. And when Lazarus, that beggar, died, he found himself sitting next to Abraham. We shall meet Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all of the men of faith of the Old Testament, and all the people of faith since the New Testament. We shall be with Christians, with Christ's people. It's the king's garden party. And the third thing is we shall be with angels. I know this, that whether you go to the prison or the garden, you'll believe in angels the first minutes after you die, if you've never believed in them before. You'll meet them. And one of the loveliest thoughts to me is this, that even if you die alone, unwanted, uncared for, with nobody there to help you, God has angels waiting just the other side. His servants, the palace staff, are waiting in the garden. And Lazarus died, didn't even have a funeral, he was a beggar, nobody cared for him, took him to Abraham. We shall be with Christ, we shall be with Christians, we shall be with the angels. No wonder that Paul said, even though I'm going to be unclothed for the interval, disembodied, without this flesh and bones, even so, I would rather be away from the body and at home. I long to depart. He said, I know I'd like to stay to help you, but I long to depart. For my own sake, I'm ready to be off. I long to depart. Paradise to the... A great saint was asked this question, what do you most look forward to as a Christian? And after a moment's thought, he said, the first five minutes after death, he'd understood his Bible. He knew the truth, and he honestly meant just that. We're going to sing a hymn now, and then in five minutes, I'm going to answer some of the questions that I've been asked about this series. There will be a question session in the morning. Intermediate destiny, those who have, those who have heard, and both these things happen, what we do in this life. Second question, is there a second, more and more people today believe that there is. May I say that the only hint I have for anyone, any possibility, it's a great gulf fixed, and death would seem to be the end. Third question, now the Roman Catholics have limbo for short. Now this place is a place in their teaching. First, it is a place where we're here. Therefore, it is a place where those who die before, in other words, there are two, in other words, those who believe in Jesus, but are not. It is because of this belief, and I can only say that nowhere in the of the idea, and indeed there are three reasons why in fact it seems to me impossible that there should be such. First, Jesus was punished for all my sins. Why then have I to be? That seems to me conclusive. Second, when I die physically, that will set me free. In which prayer? The official order. Now what do we think about this? It's quite obvious that if you, it's quite obvious that you go on thinking. What need do you think they have that you're good? Jesus is, he has promised prayers for the dead, are rightly not. It is those who are unsure. There is no Bible, never once told. Final question.