The sermon explores the theme of death and what lies beyond the grave. It emphasizes the importance of worshiping God and the contrast between the Christian worldview and the world's view of death. The speaker discusses the consequences of sin and the need for redemption through Jesus Christ. The sermon concludes with a call to prepare for death and to focus on the eternal glory that awaits believers.

Well, good morning to you all. Sun is out. It's a new day. It's the Lord's day and what a day again to worship Him together. You know, I was sitting there as we sung and I just thought again about what a privilege it is for us to sit together and worship such a wonderful and gracious God.

You know, there's a lot of things happening in the world right now, and some of them we might consider more important than others. But you know, what we are doing together with brothers and sisters across the world on this day is the most important thing that happens. That we can come into the presence of God who is holy through his son Jesus Christ to worship him. We must rejoice and be thankful. This is very, very precious.

Right, 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Only going to read three verses. The apostle Paul writes, and he says in verse 16, so we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal. Well, we came to the end of our sermon series. If you were with us from the beginning, this is sermon number 10 on this theme that we've chosen, from the womb to the grave, but it comes to an end and what is the end?

The end of the sermon series appropriately is also the end of our journey from the womb to the grave and the grave is the end Or is it? But we have to acknowledge that the grave is the end for us in our physical existence in this world. Unless the Lord Jesus Christ returns and take us home without us having to die, every single one of us in this room will end up having to face death. That's a somber thought. Death is the end of our journey here under the Sun.

It is the end because of what happened in Genesis chapter 3. And we've been in the book of Genesis not further than chapter 3. Everything that we've said so far we can relate back to those early chapters in God's Word. And in Genesis 3 verse 1 to 4 we read, Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

And then the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. And The serpent then said to the woman, well, you shall surely not die. And from that point onwards, as Adam and Eve rebelled against God, believed the serpent, from that point onwards, as you read the holy scriptures, you see man after man and woman after woman dying. Actually, the first recorded sin after Adam's sin was what? It's Cain and Abel.

So the first death that comes even comes at the hand of another man killing his own brother. And then more death. We even see God destroying all but one family, the family of Noah, because as a punishment of their sin, their wickedness. In Genesis 6 verse 5 the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention and thought of their heart was only evil continually. So God wiped them out.

And this is the story of mankind. We are all created beautifully, we are created in the image of God, we are to reflect that image, and in that image we are to worship Him, we are to submit ourselves to His will, and yet because of sin we find ourselves in this place where we constantly, by nature, are rebellious. We do not want to submit, we do not want to live according to God's will. And so, we see that the wages of sin is death. And death is no respecter of persons is it?

Nor of age, nor of circumstances, nor of status. When we looked at the issue of abortion we noted that death even executes its cruel vocation in the most safest place there is, in a mother's womb. And whether that happens by the evil darkened hearts of those who commit that particular murder, or even just as a result of us being in this flesh, death comes to all of us. Sin is so pervasive that man's life can be cut short at any moment. No amount of wealth or status, no amount of scientific progress can save us from that final blow.

We always live in the shadow of death. If we were a thousand people when we started our journey in the womb, we end up with only 430 left at the age of 70. Now that's the statistics. 43% of people who were born actually makes it to the age of 70. What happened to the rest?

They died. And what happens to you after 70? Well you might make it to 80, might make it to 90, very few make it to 100. But more sobering is the fact that every day living under the sun while we are alive, it's filled with pain and it's filled with suffering, it's filled with sin and more sin and more sin and we're gathering up for us more wrath. No wonder Paul cries out at the end of Romans 7 when he says, O wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of death.

He said that as a reference to his body, his flesh, still always inclined to sin, Even though his heart loves the Lord Jesus, even though his mind has decided to will himself to do that which is right, he finds himself doing what? Exactly the opposite. Can you relate? You see, as we all stand with one foot in the grave, and this is not a reference to old age, that's the truth for all of us. The reality is that our position in this fallen world is one where at any moment death will come and visit us.

We are again confronted with that stark contrast though as we look at death we find the Christian worldview is one of hope and light and we have the world views of this world, which is absolutely dark when it comes to the topic of death. I believe nowhere else would you find the contrast between those who know God and those who reject him clearer and starker than at this point, when you start thinking about death. The world says it is done, it's over and nothing awaits for you after this life. The very best that they can offer is this despairing, empty, dark, hopeless, meaningless end. That's all the world can truly offer.

Our most renowned living atheist, Mr. Richard Dawkins, who's one of the 430 who made it past 70, I think he's 82 now, someone interviewed him the other day quite recently and he asked him this question, what will happen after you draw your last breath? Richard Dawkins answered, it will be like being unborn, a great nothing or rather as much of a nothing as before we were born And then he recites Mark Twain's famous line that says, I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. In other words, he's saying, There is nothing after this.

It's just empty. It's just nothingness, meaningless, darkness. I just cease to exist. Again, I think we can all understand and at least give some sympathy to those who reject God. You can understand why they think like this.

They think like that because they have no God in their life. If you do not acknowledge God, then what better outcome is there for you than to think that after this life there's nothing? There is no better outcome for someone who rejects God than to think, well, I live my life, I'll die and then enter into this emptiness of non-existence. I'll return to dust, I'll ignore the fact that I have a living soul. You can only hope that this would be the case because the alternative for the atheist must be absolutely frightening.

What if you die and you find yourself standing before the holy God whom you have rejected and refused to believe in? What are you going to say on that day if right now you're so convinced, so hopeful that it will all just end and you will cease to exist and you wake up on the other side and there is God who is holy, the very God who you refuse to believe in. Do you remember what the preacher said in Ecclesiastes 12? We read it last week. There at the end he speaks about growing old and he starts in verse 1 of Ecclesiastes 12.

Remember also your creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say I've no pleasure in them and and then we had that long description of growing old say before the silver cord is snapped verse 6 or the golden bowl is broken or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain or the wheel broken at its cistern and the dust returns to the earth all those are pictures of death and then he goes on he says and the spirit returns to God who gave it every single human being whom God has created in his image, in which God breathed life into, given them a living soul, all of them their spirits will return to the Lord to be judged. You may want to wish that it's all over when you die, but this is not the testimony of God's Word. In Daniel chapter 2 verse 2 we read and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. But to the atheist those in the world they will say well prove it, show me that this is true.

Well we actually have a trustworthy witness, someone who actually died and came to tell us about life after death. It is our own Lord Jesus Christ. He appeared to his disciples, they were eyewitnesses and we read about it in in 1st Corinthians 15. Let me just read a few verses there for you and this is proof enough. In verse 3 of chapter 15 of 1st Corinthians he says for I delivered to you as of first importance what I have also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12th, then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep, euphemism for death, And then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all as to an untimely born man, here I am, he also appeared to me.

Brothers and sisters, you and I have an eyewitness, the eyewitness, of what happens after death. The Lord Jesus Christ who died, was buried and rose again. And he came to testify to his disciples that he is the firstborn of the resurrection That your body just don't cease to exist and your soul is not just gone, your body will eventually obviously decompose, sadly enough, but your soul is in the hands of God, it is eternal, it's everlasting. So dear brothers and sisters, in this world that belongs to God, in this world that was created by him and for him, in which you and I are now living in faith and and with joyful obedience, we find that there is a way to escape the vanity that is described in Ecclesiastes, the vanity of life under the sun where you work hard and you see all your labor being squandered by your children, children don't do that, And yet we end up having to face the reality that death will come and visit every single one of us. Vanity of vanities.

And yet our lives transcend beyond this physical realm, beyond what is under the sun. We come and we look forward to that eternal hope that belongs to the Christian. It springs from the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He's the one who walked that path of death and came back and testified to the reality of the life that he has prepared for us. He is the resurrection and the life.

At the end of 1 Corinthians 15, it's one of those really beautiful chapters in the Bible, when we get to the end we see Jesus being described there and what he's accomplished for us. Verse 51, he says, Behold, I tell you a mystery, says Paul, we shall not all sleep. What does that mean? It's not what happens sometimes here as I look down upon the congregation. No, we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed.

Death has no hold on us. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed, for this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality and when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gave us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. No vanity. Seek the Lord while you're young, follow him, live your life to the glory of Christ and even that which happens under the Sun will not be in vain, because you and I have an eternal glory waiting for us. So here's the question, what lies beyond the grave? Well there are two possible scenarios, two destinations.

One is clearly described in the Holy Word, that there is eternal life and this will belong to all of those who believe. And the second one is then called the second death, a death that will be an eternal death. It's not like a moment now I'm dead, it is a state of death where you will continuously for all eternity be under the wrath of God in the eternal lake of fire and this is reserved for those who deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear church, may I have your full attention for a moment. In Hebrews chapter 9, 27, the author tells us it is appointed for man to die once and after that to face judgment.

In Revelation 20 we read, then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it and from his presence earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them and I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and then books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead who were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were all judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. And then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death, the lake of fire, and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire. Do you remember when I started this message I said every one of us are going to die? None of you questioned that statement because we know it's true. But dear brothers and sisters, the reality is that when you die, there comes a day when you will have to face the Lord Jesus Christ who is holy and just and righteous and you will stand before the judgment seat and God Christ will open the books of the deeds that you have that you have done and let me tell you Every single deed that you've done will condemn you. Even the best works that you have done will fall short of the glory of God.

Those books, I don't know how thick they are, but they will be condemning. Unless your name is written in the Lamb's book of life there's no hope at that point, absolutely no hope for you. Will this be you on the day when death keeps his appointment with you? Do not ignore this warning today. You can hope as much as you like that there is no life after death, that everything just comes to nothing.

You might even hope that you are okay with all the works that you have done, thinking that you've done enough, but you will awake to a consciousness before God, the Lord Jesus Christ on his throne, and you will stand before him and you need to give an answer. You will have absolutely no defense though, nothing. What will you say to him? Will you say, well, I've kept the law? You won't dare, because you know you haven't.

Will you say, well, Jesus, I preached in your name, I drove out demons, or you may be one of those who can say that and yet the Lord will say depart from me I never knew you. Who are we when we stand there in front of Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity on that day. Who do we think we're going to be? With what confidence will we stand there? You will awake and you will be before him And you will have absolutely no defense.

And as he says, depart from me, I know you not, you will know that I must depart because I know him not. You have trampled underfoot the cross of Christ. You've rejected the gospel over and over again, that good news. You've rejected Christ. You refused the good news and you lived like Frank Sinatra's song, you know, let the record show, I took the blows, and I did it my way.

There's only one way. Your way will lead to eternal death, just as Adam's way led to death when he rejected God's way. On that day, it will be too late. By then you must have acknowledged already that this is God's world. You were created by God to live in his world.

You've been designed according to God's wisdom. You should therefore have lived your life according to God's will. You should have joyfully submitted yourself to his divine rule. You should have embraced the Son. The Son who said that whoever believes in me shall not perish but have eternal life.

You have had all the opportunity and yet you said no thank you not for me. On that day it will be too late. You see it's not only bad for you in this life Not to acknowledge God or to accept all his ways, but not following God's Word is fatal, fatal with eternal consequences. It may be as blunt as God's Word is this morning on this topic. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

It is closed for you. Do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolatist nor adulterous nor men who practice homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revile us nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Will you come on that day before God and say well I was one of those, I was a drunkard, I kept in my drunkenness, I was a swindler. So Lord the kingdom belongs to me. Sinners who reject God's law, who define for themselves what is true, what is good, what is evil, who suppress the truth and then live outside of God's will, cannot and will not inherit the kingdom of God.

You are an enemy of God, and he who created the heaven and the earth is all-powerful. You shall fear him on that day like no other day because when he judges the living and the dead no one can stand before him except those when you keep on reading 1st Corinthians 6 and you get to verse 11. So after that list of people who cannot inherit the kingdom, Paul goes on in verse 11 he says and such was some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. In other words you could find yourself maybe even today in the category of those who will not inherit the kingdom of God because of your sin, but by the grace of God there's hope for the sinner.

It doesn't matter how big that sin is, it doesn't matter how vile it might look, it doesn't matter because if you come to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, trusting his word, you can be those who are cleansed, those who've been prepared, those who've been washed and sanctified, those who've been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore you need Jesus this morning. You need his righteousness. You need his life. His substitutionary death that then atoned for your sins.

He took away the wrath of God so that you can enter into the Holy of Holies, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ the Son. You do not yet believe in Jesus? Let me beg of you this morning, well let me use the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 when he says, therefore we as ambassadors for Christ may I make an appeal to you this morning I implore of you on behalf of Christ be reconciled with God Make sure that if you would die today that you would know him. Make sure that you will trust him because for our sake God made him sin who knew no sin that is Christ Jesus so that in him we might become the righteousness of God, the great exchange. Your sin has been placed on Christ and you can receive his righteousness.

Right now there is that one path after death that leads to eternal punishment in hell, but praise God that this is not the only path for man. This is what gives us so much hope and makes us cry, come Lord Jesus come. So we do not lose heart, though this outer self of us is wasting away, maybe with old age, the inner self is being renewed day by day, because the believer knows that even though this physical body is becoming weaker and weaker day after day, my inner self is closer, my spirit is even closer to being united with my Savior Jesus Christ. And by the way don't wait until the body becomes so weak that you cannot walk around anymore for that moment. Young people, children, that inner self can already be renewed day in day out if you spend time in the Word of God.

And then he goes on and says, for this light momentary affliction, the suffering that we have here on Earth is nothing compared to the eternal weight of glory that awaits for us. I wish I had time to unpack these few verses more, but let's focus just on this mind-blowing phrase the eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Yes life under the sun full of afflictions and yes our outer self is wasting away But in the greatest scheme of things, this is nothing, nothing compared to what God has prepared for us. Imagine a scale, not these electronic ones that we use in the kitchen nowadays, but imagine you know those old scales where you had two bowls and you put weights in here and say one kilogram piece of weight and now you want to measure one kilogram of rice whatever and you you know those scales. Imagine a scale.

In the cup on the left, you can put all the misery, all the pain, all the sin, All those things that have affected your life here on earth, put it all there and I bet you, as you put it in there, I'm not a betting man, I promise you that if you put them in there, suddenly that scale is going to go like this. True? Now, it's heavy because the pain and the suffering and our sin is heavy. It is a burden for us here on earth. Now you go and in Christ Jesus God comes and he puts on the other in the other cup on the other side of the scale the glory that he has prepared for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Well if that left cup dropped because of gravity and its weight so quickly, this one will drop even faster. Because there is no comparison between the momentary affliction of being in this flesh if we compare it with the eternal weight of glory that awaits for those who are in Christ. We should live with our hands very loosely holding on to this life. This world doesn't offer much because it's so marred by sin. We should still enjoy it, it's God's gift to us.

But you know we work so hard for that car and that house. We work so hard for our entertainment and our, oh dare I say sport this morning, we work so hard to make ourselves fit. We work so hard to make this world a place where we're comfortable. A Christian should be so uncomfortable in this world because when he looks around he looks and he says that is hindering me from fellowship with Christ. That is keeping me away from worshiping the Lord.

That is tempting me. I want to be in the presence of Jesus Christ. Why do we hold so tight to this world? The 17th century minister with the name Nathaniel Ranew, He wrote a book called The Glory and Happiness of the Saints in Heaven. And I want to quote some of the things that he said.

He said, "'Thoughts of death ought to be laid to heart by all. "'It is a Christian's great wisdom "'and ought to be his greatest care to provide for death. There's no great folly and danger of neglecting or delaying such preparations upon hope of long life." So what he's saying is instead of preparing for the things of this world, why don't we spend time preparing for death? I'm not speaking of the moment of death or the act of death, speaking for what lies beyond the grave for the Christian. So what are you looking forward to?

What is the weight of glory then that Paul refers to in this text? Again this Nathaniel Renu, he speaks about the glories and the benefits that we shall enjoy in heaven and in one chapter he considers this and I'm going to take one or two of these to close our series but just listen to how he writes he says in a particular consideration of the happiness of heaven we must consider the company and society believers shall enjoy in heaven. So if I ask you today why are you looking forward to what lies ahead? Here are some of the answers. He says we're looking forward to communion with all the people of God.

Secondly, we're looking forward to communion with angels. We're looking forward to enjoyment of Jesus Christ who is our Redeemer. We're looking forward to a sight and fruition of God. What kind of sight or vision of God saints shall have in heaven which shall be immediate and clear, it shall be transforming, it will be joyful, it will be permanent. The sight and vision of God in heaven will be a great happiness because God is a universal good, a pure and unmixed good, a suitable good, an all sufficient good, a satisfying good, an everlasting good.

Let me take one of those, well maybe three of those things that he mentioned. Think about heaven for a moment and the glory that awaits. Think about the communion that you and I will have with all God's people. How many of you would like to have a little conversation with the Apostle Paul or David or Elijah or Enoch? What was that like, Enoch?

Psalm 122 verse 1 says, it's a song of David and he says, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. David is writing, he says, it's good to be in the fellowship of God's people. I hope you enjoy being in church. I hope you enjoy worshiping with God's people here this morning. And I in particular am so grateful that our church is what it is.

We are a mixture of small children and older men and women, we are a mixture of cultures from all over the globe. We are here such a beautiful representation of the kingdom of God. I love coming to church. How much more when people from all nations and all tribes and all tongues will stand there before the throne of God who is holy and we will all worship him together. Some of you know that I'm on my way to America to attend the G3 conference and one of the things that I'm looking forward to, the registration for this conference already reached 7, 500 people.

Now I've never been in a crowd of 7, 500 singing together to the glory of God. I'm... I just want to sing with those people. I don't care what they're going to say. Well I do care what they say, but I want to be there in the presence of God's people singing his glory.

Well, that's nothing in comparison of what waits for us as believers. That suddenly I'll be able to understand Chinese, Cantonese. Suddenly you'll be able to speak Portuguese to our Brazilians and they will understand you. Because nothing will hinder us from fellowship. Aren't you looking forward to that?

And more than that, Aren't you looking forward to having a relationship with a brother and sister without sin being in its way? No impatience, no frustrations, no hidden agendas. It's got to be perfect fellowship with God's people. And then we're going to have communion with angels. We will join the angels in glory.

They who serve us on the Lord's commands, right now they're serving us, they are his messengers, and yet they are inhabitants of heaven together with us and they will join us around that throne of the Father and the Son praising the Redeemer. Revelation 5 you know how I love this chapter verse 11 he says then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands on thousands in other words a lot of them saying with a loud voice where these the Lamb who are slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Don't you want to be there? Can you imagine standing there in the presence of God's messengers and saying worthy is the land? This leads us to the most important part, enjoying Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

Now this is a happiness so great that a saint cannot but account himself compensated with infinite gain and advantage, says the author, though he lost his life in attaining it. In other words, you must die to get there, and you won't regret it. Of all the joys that await for us in glory, verse to the believer is the most treasured of them all. If you are a Christian today, you must know the debt that you owe the Lord Jesus Christ. One you can never repay.

He gave himself for you. He took upon himself the wrath of the Father that was meant for you. He's the one that cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He purified you with his blood. He reconciled you with the Lord God who is holy, holy, holy and you will stand in his presence and when you enter into glory, when you open your eyes again after closing it on this side, you will see him face to face.

He will look around you and you will see the Saints all dressed in righteousness. Whose righteousness? The righteousness of the Son Jesus Christ. And you will see yourself standing there at the Crystal Sea beholding the Lord God on his throne in all his majesty and all his splendor. You will know what a deep sense of gratitude you will have in your heart, won't you?

You would look at the Lord Jesus, the slain lamb, and you would say, why am I here? Because of him. Because of him. You will be there because of a love that is so deep, a love that is so pure, so amazing, and a love so beautifully expressed in the Son Jesus Christ, dying on the cross for your sins. And you would look at him and say, I love you, my Redeemer.

My Lord is mine and I am his. How is it possible for you? How is it possible for you to personally find yourself there? Well, you will be there because of grace. You won't deserve it.

You will know it. None of us will be there claiming, well, I did it my way. No, you won't. None of you will stand there in God's holy presence with fig leaves on, covering our nakedness, saying, well, I'm ready to meet him. You will look at the Lamb who is slain, you will see the scars and the of the nails of the cross.

That's how you get there, that's how you got there. He turned to me and in my despair and in my in ruined state, ripe for judgment and in grace he showed mercy to me who deserved eternal hell. And you would look at him and say, thank you, Jesus. I will settle for one minute in heaven If I could spend it on my knees thanking Jesus Christ, would you? He's done it all for you.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. But beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know and when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. Well, I wish I could speak all day long just conversing with you about the eternal weight of glory that is beyond all comparison so that we may look not at the things of this world these things that are seen but that we would focus our eyes upon him brothers and sisters lift the anchor of your soul out of the foul waters in this harbour. Loosen your grip on this world with its light momentary afflictions and set your sails for glory.

Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ, our roots are far too comfortable in this world, while we're drinking the sap from this cursed ground, when we can have glory in Christ Jesus. The world should be like a bus stop for us. Just a moment. Because we're on a destiny somewhere else. Let me finally read to you here.

2 Peter 3 verse 11 to 18 and I promise this is how we'll close. 2 Peter 3 verse 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought we to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening to the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace, and count the patience of the Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures, but you, you therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because to him belong glory both now and to the day of eternity Amen.

Brothers and sisters I've enjoyed going through this series because it helped me again to look at this world and to know I want very little to do with lawlessness. I have very little to do with those who care not for God, except for my love towards them to see them come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The world is blinded by sin. They will act according to their rebellion, but you dear brothers and sisters, open your eyes. Let the word of God give you the wisdom to understand the world that you live in because it is his world.

God made this world. And if you can just put yourself there and submit yourself to his will, live according to his design for you, the Word of God promises us then that your life will be one of joy amidst all the suffering and pain, but the end for you is a great reward. It's a glory weightier than anything that you can ever imagine. And as I try to sketch the picture with my really bad English grammar, brothers and sisters, can you imagine what the reality will be like? Why don't we just meditate on that this week?

Think about what lies ahead. And therefore, wake up every morning thinking, how can I serve my God? How can I live in obedience to him, how can I love him more because my beloved is mine and I am his? I can't wait.