In the Order of Service, you have there three readings on the right-hand side of the Order of Service. One is taken from Luke, one is taken from the Book of Acts, and the other is taken from the Book of Romans. I worked hard to make sure there was no spelling mistakes in this Order of Service. I thought I had accomplished it last night, And then this afternoon I went up and I saw that I'd spelt fourth for last night's order of service, F-O-R-U-T-H. So I worked hard today, so you can take this home with you and see if there's any mistakes in it. And if there are, you can email me and say, well, you didn't get it right even the last night. Let's read this word of God as we have it here, from Luke's gospel, then Acts, and then the book of Romans. There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water. and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things. And Lazarus in like manner, bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you may not do so, and none may cross from there to us. And he said, then I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's house. For I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they come also to this place of torment. But Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, no father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. He said to them, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. Acts chapter 17. The times of ignorance God overlooked But now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, we will hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed. Among him also were Dionysus the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. And then these two verses from the book that Paul wrote to the church at Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. May God bless to us this reading of his word. I want to begin tonight by thanking you for coming to this worship service. A number, many of you have been here each night. Others of you have been able to come a few nights. Some of you may be here the first night. If that's the case, you're most welcome. The word of God is very clear to us. and the fact that it caused us to stir one another up to good deeds and leadership in this church sought to encourage the members of this church to come and participate in this week. And I, on behalf of the leadership, want to thank you for doing so. It's been a great encouragement to see you here every night, young and old. And for many of you, it's been a huge sacrifice, I know that. You've had to make other arrangements, you've had to Rush in some nights, miss your tea, and come out. And that's a good thing in the sight of God. I want to thank you for doing that, for making that sacrifice. It has personally encouraged me, and I have coveted your prayers in that situation. Others of you who haven't been able to hear every night have said that the reasons why you won't be here, and that's been an encouragement as well. So I just thank you really, genuinely for that support, encouragement, and your desire for the Word of God. If you have come as a visitor this week, then know that that was not by accident. We have been asking God to bring you to this worship service tonight, last night, Wednesday night, and Tuesday night, and Monday night. And if you came any of those nights, and you're obviously here tonight, then God has done a work to bring you here. It is not a mistake or an accident or a fluke that you're here. God deals with us in his providence. He deals with us for a reason. Often we don't see what that reason is, but in time we do. And I want to thank you for coming responding to the invitation that's been extended to you. It is appreciated. This week we have been looking each night under the banner theme of Life, Then What? at what happens to us at the end of our lives. And as I've done each night, I have briefly recapped what I've said on the previous evenings, and it has been brief, and I want to do that tonight just for the benefit of those who are here maybe for the first time. I'm sure that those of you who have been here before, you appreciate anyway the reminders of what has been said previously. We've seen that our lives are incredibly short, that they are very, very brief, that God tells us that there are 70 years, 80 if we have strength, and that they are marked by a fragility and an uncertainty. None of us can tell when our lives are going to end. None of us can tell that. We live our lives day by day and we make so many assumptions about our lives. We plan for tomorrow. I'm sure you've thought about that. You've planned for what you're going to do next week and maybe even plan your summer holidays. Now there's obviously an element of that needed in our lives. We can't just wander through our lives aimlessly not thinking ahead. Well some people do that but they don't ever really achieve or accomplish much in life. They just get up in the morning and that's it. But the reality is that with all the planning We cannot guarantee that that is going to come about. We can't be certain of anything in this life. And as I mentioned during the week, surely the events of the past six weeks in our world have manifested that in very, very clear and stark terms. You cannot guarantee tomorrow, none of us can. And when we die and our bodies are laid in the grave or they're cremated or whatever happens to our bodies, There's an experience that we go through at that moment. Those people who do not have a reconciled relationship with God, they experience a traumatic reality at that point of death. It's called a sting. And that sting is that the full awareness of the guilt of their sin, whether they have accepted that they're a sinner or not, The full awareness of the guilt of their sin is revealed to them in all its force at that moment of death. For those who have been reconciled to God and who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that sting has been removed. They do not experience that. That's why the death of the saints of the Lord are precious in His sight. But that death, you see, is not the end. There are some people who believe When I die, that's it finished. But that's not the case. God has made it very clear that when we die, yes, our bodies cease to exist, but our souls continue on in a conscious awareness. Our souls continue to exist, and we are conscious of that existence that we are in our souls. And we read tonight our first reading in Luke's gospel, of the two clear places where that conscious existence is lived out. One is described as Abraham's side, heaven, and the other is described as a place of torment. And the reality is that at the moment of our death, we will go to be in one of those two places. And when we go to be in one of those two places, that is it fixed for all eternity. Abraham, rather sorry, the rich man said to Abraham, can Lazarus come to me? Can he dip his finger in water and cool my tongue? For I am anguish in the flame. And Abraham said, no, he can't. The reason is very clear. He said, there is a great gulf or a great chasm fixed between us and you. Between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed. And he goes on and says, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not do so, and none may cross from there to us. When you die, If you, by faith in Jesus Christ, go immediately into the presence of Jesus Christ and are perfected, your soul will dwell there until the resurrection of the dead. If you die not believing in Jesus Christ, your soul, according to the word of God, will go to that place of eternal torment from which there is no release. You cannot go to that place of torment and then, by some other means, get to heaven. The chasm is great and the gates of entry are fixed. There's a day coming when Jesus Christ is returning We saw that on Wednesday night. And when he returns, he will return not in his humble state as a child. He'll return as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It will be a visible return that everyone in the world will witness and bear testimony to. We read and saw how he will appear on the clouds. And it will be a very, very loud and vocal return The trumpets will sound, and the archangel will herald his coming. Now this is actually going to happen. I know that when you hear about things like this, it seems so unreal that it's almost unbelievable. But it is real, and it is believable, and it is actually going to happen. one day at a time known only to God the Father, not known to the angels, not known to Jesus the Son, not known to anyone on earth, known by to God the Father and Him alone. God will say to the Son, today is the day, the last day, and the Son will leave the glory in heaven in His risen glorified body, and He will come on the clouds. This is actually going to happen. This is actually going to happen in our world. And He is going to come And the archangel is going to announce and herald his coming, and there is going to be a large trumpet sound which is going to shake the foundations of the earth. And the dead in Christ are going to be raised at that moment, and all the dead who do not believe in Jesus Christ are going to be raised as well. And all those who have died, their bodies are going to be reunited with their souls. The bodies of those who believe in Jesus Christ we saw are going to be raised spiritual, powerful, glorious, imperishable. Their bodies are going to be astonishing. Our bodies are going to be remarkable. They're going to be the same. We're going to be able to recognize one another, but they are going to be absolutely phenomenal in all the capacities that they will have. The bodies of those who do not believe and have not believed in Jesus Christ will be raised They too will be immortal, but they will be fit for the purpose for which they have been raised, to endure the punishment of God for all eternity. Again, that is actually going to happen. And if you're sitting here tonight and you're thinking to yourself, this is not true, then come to me after the worship service and I will take you to the word of God And I will show you that everything I have said is in God's word. You have to appreciate that I'm summarizing what I said in the previous evenings. And on that day, we saw last night, there will be a final great judgment. Now many people are confused about this. Many people think that on that day, the deeds that they have done during their lives will be weighed up. The good deeds and the bad deeds will be weighed up, a bit like a set of scales, and if they've done enough good things that outweigh the bad things, then they'll be sorted out, they'll go to heaven. That's not what's going to happen. You should really know that from what I've already said. The problem you see is that every human being who has lived their lives stands condemned before God already. We are by nature objects of the wrath of God because we are descendants from Adam. Sin entered into the world by the rebellion of Adam against God's expressed will. And death entered into the world because of sin, and because one man rebelled against God, then all are condemned, Paul writes to the church at Rome. You tonight, you tonight, were born a condemned man or woman, just as I was born a condemned man or woman. It's not on the basis solely of what we think, say, or do during our lives that determines the fact of whether we're condemned or not. Many people think that I'll wait and I'll see what the judgment will be in the end. There's no point in waiting and seeing what the judgment will be in the end. Again, I can take you clear to the word of God tonight, and I can show you that your condemnation is not a future prospect, it's a present fact. It's a present reality. You stand condemned tonight. You were born condemned. I was born condemned. My sin and thought and word merely manifests my condition already. You may think you're a good person. Well, you may well be a decent person in terms of how the world sees you and how I would see you. But how the world sees you and how I see you is an irrelevance. It doesn't matter how I view you, because I'm not going to be your judge. Because as we saw last night, Jesus Christ is going to be the judge. Jesus Christ alone is going to be the judge. And so if Jesus Christ is going to be the judge and he's going to judge on the basis of God's law, which is perfect, I am not going to have a say in your judgment. And we saw last night, you're not going to have a say in your judgment either because you don't need to have a say because Jesus Christ knows everything about you that there is to be known. And so you either accept, you either accept the fact of what God says or you deny it. And then you will experience the reality of it in due course. And I say that with genuine fear for you, genuine fear for you. The horrific reality that awaits those who do not accept the Lord Jesus Christ. is almost unspeakable. Many people say, well, I haven't had God in my life during my life, why would I worry about missing God in my eternity? I've managed to go along without Him up to this point, why do I need Him from eternity on in? Well, you see, you're missing the point. You have a life because God gave you that life. You're breathing at the moment because God's giving you that breath. The sun rises because God causes it to rise. The sun sets because God causes it to set. The rains come, the seasons come, seed time and harvest come because God causes that to happen. And God provides through the seasons and the harvests the food that will sustain our bodies. You live and you eat and you breathe because of God's goodness to you. You have people, family and friends who are kind and pleasant to you. They're kind and pleasant to you because God is a good God and he holds back the evil that's in this world. Now when you die, if you die apart from Jesus Christ, your soul will go into that place of torment that the rich man spoke of. You will cry out to God, for relief, but there will be no relief. And that place will be devoid of the holy presence and the good presence of God. The sun will never rise in that place, nor will it set. You will never again see the smiling face of someone whom you know or love. This place is spoken of in horrific terms in the Bible. And just in case you think that tonight I am overemphasizing it, the truth is that when you look at the word of God and you add up the number of times God talks about love, and you add up the number of times God talks about judgment, punishment, and hell, the judgment, punishment, and hell passages outnumber the ones that speak of love. And there's a reason for that. The reason for that is that God is battering on the door of our consciences and our minds to say, do you get this point? Will you listen to this? Now God is love and love is real. And it's because of his love that there is a way of salvation from that eternal judgment, from that eternal punishment. But you see, until and unless you get the point and you're prepared to accept and admit that you are going to experience that judgment. You are going to experience the horror of that reality. You're going to experience the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. You're going to experience the conscience that will never ever release you. And those terms have been historically used in the church and men have thumped pulpits and men have shouted and there have been associated with terror and loud, aggressive language. And almost in the church today, people have shied away from that. They said, oh, I don't want to hear about that because their association with that is of aggressiveness and loudness. But the reality is that that aggressiveness and that loudness is an import by man. It doesn't change the fact When God speaks and says that those who die apart from Christ in their sin will go to that place of weeping, He means that. And it will be incessant weeping that will never ever end. Do you know those times in your life when you've been caused to cry? Whether you're a man or a woman and if your heart has been broken over something and you've cried and you've cried. You may have cried for two or three days. Maybe nobody has seen it, but inside you've cried. But you've come out of it again. You'll never come out of this crying. You know those times in your life when you're really, really, really angry and you're grinding your teeth in anger? Well, that's what Jesus says will be the continual experience of those who depart from him accursed. They will be so angry, they will gnash their teeth continually. And there will never be any release from that gnashing of teeth. And the conscience you see is the problem. Because Jesus says that the conscience will keep reminding them of the fact that they knew that God was real. that they suppressed that truth, that they refused to accept that truth, that they rejected that truth, and that continually in this place of poverty, because God will not be there, in this place of agonizing pain, we read there of the torment of the fire that burns and never consumes. In this place, Jesus says that there'll be this conscience, daily awareness, of the fact of what I have done in denying Jesus Christ is real. And it will never, ever end. It will never, ever end. God says, I will act in fury. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in tears with a loud voice, I will not hear them. Did you hear that tonight? God speaking there of those who will be separated from him from all eternity. I will act in fury, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity, and though they cry in tears with a loud voice, I will not hear them. I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath, and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I stained all my raiment. You are without hope tonight. You are without hope. You have one life. It's incredibly short. It can end at any moment. When you die, your soul will go into a conscious existence, one of two places. When Jesus Christ returns victoriously and vocally and visibly, he will raise your body, the body you have at this present moment in time, and it will be raised and it will be reunited with your soul. You'll be called before Jesus Christ. You'll not be asked for your opinion or your view. No one else will be asked to express an opinion or view of you. He will know, and he will pronounce in you the full final public declaration of his judgment upon you. That will be a declaration stating where you already exist. And in that place where you will live for all eternity, you have absolutely no hope whatsoever of release from it, of peace in it, of comfort through it. I honestly, tonight, cannot convey to you the abject horror that will be really there. One of the members said last night they were speaking to someone who left and they said, you know, it was quite scary or frightening what he said. My response was to the person I was speaking to, I don't have the ability to eloquently enough express the magnitude of the horror and the terror that those who die and are parted from God for all eternity will experience. I don't have the, I don't have the words. It is beyond speaking about. It is beyond thinking about. I want you to think about that. And what I want to ask you to do is consider what it says in Acts chapter 17, verse 30, where it says that God commands all people everywhere to repent because of this day he has fixed. I want to ask you something tonight. And I want you to try and understand what I'm asking you and the reason why I'm asking you it. We have not invited you to come to this week of special services so that we can fill this church with more people. That's not what we want to do. But I want you to seriously think about coming back to this church on Sunday. Let me tell you why I want you to seriously think about that. We are not interested in you as a number. We're interested in you as an individual. We want you to come and to hear the truth repeatedly concerning the way of salvation. In Luke's Gospel chapter 17, when the rich man comes to Abraham and asks Abraham to send Lazarus to him, he asks him first to send him to cause relief to him, but then he says to him in verse 28, to send to him for the sake of his five brothers. He says, I have five brothers, send Lazarus to them that they may warn him, warn them. Here they are in a situation where they desperately, desperately wants his brothers to be warned. Now you think that Abraham would say, well, that's a good idea. I want them to be warned as well. He doesn't deny that. But when he says, Abraham says, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. What is Abraham saying there? Why when the man says, no father, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. Why does Abraham say, not say, well, that's a good idea. That's a very good idea. You're there, we are here, we will send someone from here to the earth and this person from this glory in heaven will be able to speak to them concerning the reality of what you're facing. Why does Abraham say there's no point in doing that? Why is it that Abraham says they have Moses and the prophets? What is he actually saying to them when he tells them that? Well, what he's telling them is that they have the law and they have the gospel. Moses wrote the Old Testament laws. The gospel was in the prophets. And what Abraham is saying to him is that they must hear the truth concerning the reality of who they are, not who they think they are. You see, our problem as human beings is that we have a perception of ourselves And that perception of ourselves is filtered through so much rubbish in our own minds and our hearts. We are so deceitful. God says we're deceitful above all things. You know your heart. You know the times that you tell lies. You know it well. You know the times like I have stood in front of someone and I've lied to them and I've known I've lied to them. I've known I've lied to them. You've done that. You can't deny you haven't done that. Be honest with yourself. if you're not going to be honest with other people. You know the times you've stolen things that don't belong to you. You know the times that you've taken thoughts that are not appropriate and right, and in anger and resentment you've laid them on other people. And what God says is that you need to be confronted with the reality of who you are, not as how you see who you are, not as how I may see you. Not as how other people see it. But you have to be faced by the reality of who you are as God sees you. And the important matter is that God sees you as you really, really are. And you have to see yourself as God sees you. Because if you don't see yourself as God sees you, you haven't got a hope. Because it's only when you see yourself as God sees you, that you will then run to God and say, God, I now understand the reality of who I am, and I am in desperate need, and I need you in my life. I need you to save me. Because you see, you think you're alright tonight, just as I thought I was alright. You think there's not an issue in your life, just as I thought there wasn't an issue in my life. You think you're good, and so you may be. But in the eyes of the living, sovereign God, you're not good. There's nothing good about you. God says that you are not good. He says you're a sinner dead in your trespasses and sins. And He says that everything you do that's added up, that you think is good and given to Him as a gift, to say, that'll be in the plus box come eternity. God says, it's as a dirty, filthy rag. It means nothing to me. It's of no consequence to me at all. And you need to hear the law of God, holy as it is, come to you from the Word of God, so that suddenly you will realize, that's who I really am. That's who I really am. How do we know that we're wrong? We know we're wrong Don't we when we're breaking the law because the 30 million hour sign says don't break the law. If there was no sign, we wouldn't know we were breaking the law. It's the law that tells us that we're doing wrong. And so you need this word of law, you need the law of Moses to confront you with the reality of who you are. Now it would be a terrible thing if that was it, wouldn't it? It would be a terrible thing if God was just to give us the law. And if God was just to show us the reality of who we are and the badness of our souls, it would be a horrific thing, wasn't it? Wouldn't it be a terrible thing if God was just to say to us, look how bad you are. And because you're that bad, because you're that sinful, then you are without any hope. And that's face the reality of that. Face the reality of that. But that's not where it's at. Sure it's not. Because he then says to them, Give them the prophets as well. And what did the prophets speak about? The prophets spoke about the coming Messiah. The prophets spoke about the coming Messiah. Their salvation. Their salvation. And we want you to come and to hear that truth. We want you to come and hear the law. We want you to come and hear the good news of the gospel. We want you to hear it. That's why Paul writes the church at Romans says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, the Jew first and also to the Greek. We want you to come and hear the gospel. We want you to come and hear the truth concerning the reality of who you are. We want you to come and hear the truth concerning the reality of who God is. You see, you won't get the truth at home in front of the television. You just won't get it. You won't get the truth if you don't come and hear the truth. Now, of course, there's an assumption there. The assumption is that you're prepared to accept that God's Word is truth. Only God will enable you to accept that and receive that. Only God will enable you to take Psalm 19, which says, God's Word is perfect and converts the soul and sin that lies, and for you to accept that. Only God will enable you to do that. But surely, given the nature of your one short life, given the brevity of your life, given the fact that God tells you you're a sinner separated from Him, given the fact that God tells you that if you die in that state, Jesus says, you'll be eternally separated from Him. How can it not be in your best interests to come and hear the truth? Tell me why that could not be in your best interest to come and hear the truth. Do you not have the time to come and hear the truth? Will you live all eternity to remember you didn't have the time? Do you not have the interest? Will you live all eternity to remember How could I not have had the interest to find out the one way of salvation in Jesus Christ? What is it tonight that would prevent you from coming to a place where you would hear the truth concerning your life and what God would have you to believe in order that you might have the righteousness that you need to be with God for all eternity? that righteousness that will be revealed in Jesus Christ, that righteousness that can only be revealed in Jesus Christ. What could there be in your life that would be singly more important, given the eternal existence that lies before you? What one single thing in your life could be more important than saying, I must run to God. I must run to God. I must come and hear his word preached. I must come and hear the truth concerning who I am. I must come and hear the truth concerning who Jesus Christ is. And I must come and ask God to open my eyes to see that truth, and to hear that truth, and by His grace to believe that truth. Tell me tonight, you who have absolutely no hope at all being with God in heaven You tell me tonight what one thing in your life could be more important than that It'll be over you know your life And then you'll be in eternity. Will you be in eternity with the righteousness of Christ covering you like a mantle? Or will you be in eternity with the mantle of sin shrouded on your shoulders as a good person, separated from God, thinking to yourself, it'll be all right. If you want to talk to me about this afterwards, please feel free. I'm willing to go anywhere at any time to sit down and talk to you about it. I'm willing to open up the Bible and to work you through what God says. There are many people in this building tonight will tell you that that's a genuine offer. They will also tell you that I am open to more questions. They will tell you that they have challenged me on these things and I've sought to, with honesty and integrity, help them see what is in the Word of God. It's not about asking you to come back to our church. It's about asking you to come to hear the truth concerning your life, God, and over time, over time, the prospect you have for all eternity. Will you at least think about it? Will you at least think about it? For this moment in time, you have this wee voice in your head saying, there's no way. Will you just tell that wee voice, well, hold on here. It's all right you telling me no way. It's not you that's going to be in eternity, it's me that's going to be in eternity. That wee voice is chirping away at you and saying, you don't need to listen to this. You tell that wee voice, tell that wee voice. It's all right for you to chirp away. You're not facing what I'm facing. Talk to us. Come and listen. We will listen to you. Let us converse on these things of eternity. Amen.