In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. And we're gonna read together the word of God as we find it recorded in two New Testament scripture readings. We're reading first of all from Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17, and then we're going to 2 Thessalonians chapter one. Acts chapter 17. And let's read together from verse 22. This is Paul, his great sermon on Mars Hill in Athens. Acts 17, verse 22 to verse 31. Let's hear the word of God. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. As I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription. To the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men. For to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. A certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's devices. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commanded all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. Now turn over then with me to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 1, these two little epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians, major much on death and on the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this first chapter opens up this grand scheme to us once again. So 2 Thessalonians 1, and we're going to read together from verse 7 to verse 12. And to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in the saints and to be admired in all them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day. Wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power. that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We'll end our readings here at verse 12, and we know that the Lord will bless once again this, the public reading of his own holy and precious word. We're going to come to the Lord in prayer as We seek the Lord, not only for the preaching of God's word, but as we seek the Lord for these prayer requests that are on our prayer list, and we've posted those, and I want you to take them and to bring them before the Lord. It's not just to fill up a few pages in the announcements. So I want you to remember, please. especially those that are sick, and we've been praying about some people over the last few weeks, and again, we're bringing them before the Lord today. We remember our sister, Mrs. Olive Maxwell, our brother, the Reverend Paul Fitzsimons, our brother, the Reverend Lindsay Wilson, our brother, the Reverend Jeffrey Abraham, and our brother, the Reverend Gordon Ferguson. And we pray that God's grace and blessing may abound toward these dear believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to remember those that are local to us and those that we love in the Lord who have been praying for them, and we lift them up before God in prayer. One special request I've added is that from Kenya, wife of a dear friend of years gone by whilst we were out there, Mrs. Gentrix Martini. And this young lady, only 47 years of age, has developed a small clot in her brain, which has greatly affected her ability. She's battling also with severe malaria and ulcers. So would you pray for us, a brave Christian lady, a number of years gone by. And she brought up her family in the fear, and the nurture, and the admonition of the Lord. And she has a young family to be a credit for. But remember her, and remember her husband, Kennedy Martini, that the hand of God would abide and rest upon them for good. Let's leave these ones before the Lord. Maybe we'll stand to pray just before we come to the word of God. Just change your position. Let's all stand as we seek the face of God. Okay. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the opportunity to lift in prayer and in faith these dear ones that are sick and laid aside. We thank Thee for our sister, Mrs. Olive Maxwell, for grace that has been given to Olive and Colin, as Olive once again goes through chemotherapy and treatment. We pray Thy grace and blessing, Lord, to abound toward not only Olive, but to her family circle. We remember before thee again today these dear brethren in the Lord that are laid aside at this time, the Reverend Fitzsimons, the Reverend Lindsay Wilson, the Reverend Gordon Ferguson, the Reverend Jeffrey Abraham. I think that you know all about them and we commend them to thee. We commend to thee those that we've been praying for in our prayer meetings here locally that need the touch of God, those that are going through chemotherapy and treatment for cancer. We pray that the hand of God would abide upon them. We ask, dear Father, not just for those local, but for those afar as well. We remember the special prayer request that has come in for our sister, Mrs. Gentrix Martini in Kitali in Kenya. Lord, we lift up this dear servant of God before thee. and we pray for thy healing touch to abide upon our physical frame. We thank that Christ is the great physician and we pray that it may please thee today to grant that word of healing. Hear us for these dear ones as we gather now around the word of God. Lord send the Holy Spirit to our hearts and to our lives. Be thou the eye salve that we need. as we would seek to understand the truth of God's holy word and give us fear as we would hear the word of God and give us faith to live in the light of it. I pray all of this believing in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Since Easter, we have been considering together the state of Christ's exaltation. And what a subject it has been. It's been one to inspire, one to challenge, one to rebuke. We have thought of his ascension number. We have thought of his resurrection number one. Number two, his ascension. Number three, his session. And number four today that we're going to consider is what we call his judgment. because he is coming back as the judge of all ages. John Brown of Haddington, that I've grown to love very much over the past few months, over the past few years, in his wonderful works of theology, he points out that Christ judging the world at the last day, it's not a step higher than his exaltation at the right hand of the majesty of the Father Most High, but rather it's a public and solemn manifestation of his glory. Every eye will see him. Every knee will bow to him. So the exaltation of Christ, it reaches its visible and its public apex when he returns to judge the living and the dead. All the ages of eternity are going to be gathered together at that gathering. The masses of humanity from Adam right to the very last man will be before the throne of judgment. And what a sight it's going to be. Charles Wesley and John Chennock pictured it in their famous hymn. Lo, he comes with clouds descending, once for favoured sinners slain. Thousand, thousand saints attending, swell the triumph of his train. Hallelujah, hallelujah, God appears on earth to reign. There is a particular judgment that we should note which passes upon every individual after death. The Bible tells us it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment The souls of men and women immediately upon death, they enter into their eternal judgment. They enter into eternal bliss or eternal ruin. And I would put it to you again today, where death meets you, you will spend eternity. That's a solemn thought. Wherever death meets you, either in a state of grace or in a state of gracelessness, that is how you're going to spend the rest of God's eternity. There are no second chances beyond your last breath. There's no further opportunities to get right with God. You will either die in grace and meet God in bliss, or you will die out of grace and meet God in judgment. So there is a personal, particular judgment. But what I'm speaking about today is a general judgment. which will take place at the resurrection of the dead at Christ's second coming. Now I know there are various Christians and they're going to disagree with me on this particular one and they say that there are maybe two judgments. Well, I have preached for many years, and all I'll say today is that I have never saw two judgments. And as I read the historic creeds of the Christian church on our own confession of faith, I am still sticking with where I am today. And that is, at the final day, there is going to be a general judgment, one judgment, where the righteous and the unrighteous will be called to give an account. And this is the final in our series on the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. No, this is a challenge. It's been a challenge to me all week as I prepared this message as to how we live our lives. The Bible says in this present evil world, that's the world that we live in. Sometimes we, I think we read Christian novels and history and we imagine it was better some other day, but the world has always been a present evil world. And yet, as we've been learning from the Sermon on the Mount, we're to live it out as citizens of Christ's kingdom. We're to live as kingdom citizens in the kingdom. We're to live as citizens of the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness in this present evil world. So what an impact does the final judgment have upon us? We're going to consider it today. We're going to consider how you and I ought to frame our lives in the light of it and how we ought to prepare for it. So firstly, let's consider the prelude to the final judgment day. Foremost, will be the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches us very clearly that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back just one more time. He's not coming back two times again. He's just coming back one more time. And our own articles of faith teach us that he's coming back personally and he's coming back visibly. Every eye is going to see him. He's coming back. And this time he's not coming back in a state of humiliation. He's not coming back as the babe born in the manger at Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary. He's coming back in a state of exultation. He's coming back in the full Lord glory of his deity. He's coming back in the fullest manifestation of his person and of his position and of his power. The coming of the Son of Man is taught to us in many, many places in the Word of God. Could you turn up with me just some scriptures today? Now, keep your Bible open. We have many scriptures to turn to. I know you'll not keep up with them all, but turn up to the main ones, please. Go back to Matthew's Gospel. Matthew's Gospel chapter 24, this great chapter that majors upon the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew's Gospel chapter 24 and verse 29 to verse 31. Matthew 24. Verse 29, it says, immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. What an event it's going to be. And it tells us, and he shall send his angels, these are the words of Christ, with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. What a day it's going to be. Jesus is coming back, and as he comes back, he's coming back to be admired of all of the ages, and he's going to send his angels, and they're going to gather out his elect from all of the tribes of men and from the four, as it were, corners of the earth. From one end to the other, they're all going to be gathered in. None of them are going to be left behind. We read together from 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 7, It teaches us there, and to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. What a host of angels he's coming back with, thousands upon thousands. We think of his first coming. We think of around those fields of Bethlehem, how the fields of Bethlehem were full of angels as they proclaimed the coming of the Messiah as an infant. Well, men and women, the world is going once again to witness the hosts of glory, those mighty angels that are coming back with Christ at his second coming, and they're going to fill the whole air surrounding the earth. and they're going to proclaim the coming of the Son of Man in power and in great glory. And it tells us he's coming back in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 10 tells us, he shall come to be glorified in a sense and to be admired in all them that believe. Glorified in a sense. Can you imagine what a glory it's going to be to see the Saviour? Can you imagine what a day it's going to be when He is going to be admired in all them that believe? On that day, we're not going to look at how we are arrayed, we'll look at how He is arrayed. We'll look at His glory. We will see, as we've never saw before, His eternal power and His eternal majesty. Again, Revelation 1 and 7 is a key verse. Could we go over there, please, just for a second? Revelation 1 and 7. John opening up this final book of the inspired scriptures of truth. He said, behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. And that's why, brethren and sisters, I cannot accept that there'll be a secret coming. It's open, it's visible, it's public. If the Bible says every eye shall see him, I can't understand how the majority of the world's gonna miss him. Every eye is going to see him. Every eye is going to behold him of all the ages, past, present, and future. And he's coming back, this great verse tells us, with clouds. Now I know that can be taken figuratively, or it can be taken literally, to stand for the grandeur that is going to come with the glory of Christ. John Gill, he helps us to understand this in his commentary. He said he's coming back with clouds both to denote the grand and magnificent manner in which he'll come, making the clouds his chariots and to strike terror into his enemies. Clouds and darkness being about him, thunder and lightning breaking out of them as tokens of the vengeance he comes to take upon them. Have you ever watched, I remember as a boy, I always hated thunder. They're always headed to those dark clouds that gathered. But I never really knew what thunder was till we moved to Africa. And when the rain clouds gathered, and those lightnings flashed across the sky, and when the thunder echoed right across the distance, and it seemed as if the very house reverberated with it. That's what's gonna be like when Jesus comes back in the clouds. The clouds are going to tell of his coming. Next time you think of the thunder and the lightning, I want you to think of what it will be like when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back. What power is going to be unleashed upon this earth and the inhabitants once again. Now Jesus said of his second coming in Matthew 24, 44, be ye also ready. For in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh." And there are many, even unconverted people, and they like to debate the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when will this happen, and when will that happen? And my simple answer to all of that is, are you ready for it? Regardless of all of the events that are going to take place at it, are you ready for it? Today in this building, as you listen in from wherever or whenever you listen in, let me ask you just a simple question. Are you ready for the coming of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as the prelude to the judgment? If you're not ready for it, then you'll be lost when it actually happens. And the only way you can be ready for it is for you to repent of your sin and to receive Christ as your Savior. You're not ready until your sins have been repented of and you've received Christ as your Savior and you're living out a life for Him. You're not ready. And could it be there are those listening in today in the building or perhaps online and you've heard this doctrine preached all of your life and maybe you've reached the latter stages of your life and you're still not ready. Let me implore you today. Let me beseech you to make ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The prelude before the last judgment includes the resurrection of the dead. In 1 Thessalonians 4 and 16 we read about that day. It says, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. Nothing silent about it. With a shout. With the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And it says, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. You know, I am consoled in knowing when we put our loved ones into the grave that the bodies of our loved ones, they're not going to lie in the dust forever. When it comes our turn and we're lowered into the grave, our bodies are not going to lie in that grave forever. They will be raised. They will be raised at the second coming. Because the Lord Jesus, when he comes back and the trumpet sounds, the Bible teaches us that the dead in Christ are going to rise first. You know, if you can believe in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead at his second coming, I think you can believe the Scriptures of truth. And we're called to believe these great eternal truths. God has given us many pledges of this resurrection, pictures that tell us that it's going to happen. We think of the raising of the widow's son at Zarephath in 1 Kings 17, 21. This was telling us what's going to happen. If it happened to one, it's going to happen to others. The raising of the son of the Shunammite, the raising of the widow of Nain's son, the raising of Lazarus. As we look at all of these miraculous happenings, they're telling us if this happened to one individual, it's going to happen to the collective body. At the voice of Christ, they're going to be raised. What of Christ himself? The Bible depicts Christ as the firstfruits of those that sleep. He is the firstfruits, and there's others that follow. The firstfruits were that which always was presented before the Lord in the tabernacle in the temple. The firstfruits of the harvest, they were taken in thanksgiving and presented unto the Lord. And the firstfruits is the resurrection of Christ. But there's a harvest to follow. There's others to follow. and we're going to be raised. We mourn over our loved ones and we grieve over our loved ones who have died in the Lord, but they're going to be raised, brethren and sisters. And when your turn and my turn comes to die, we can face the grave with this confidence that we're just as it were, the body's just sleeping there. Not the soul, but the body's just sleeping there. It's a resting place until the glory of the resurrection day. God in his word has given us proof of that general resurrection day. The scriptures abound with proofs. The Lord Jesus said in John's Gospel chapter 5, 28, 29, this was a verse, a text of scripture convinced me many years ago about the general resurrection of the dead. These are the words of Jesus, John 5, 28, 29, marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all The righteous and the unrighteous, all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. One, one resurrection. Those who hear the voice of Christ, all of them will be raised, the righteous unto the resurrection of life, the unrighteous unto the resurrection of damnation. That should make us all to tremble today. The Bible teaches that though the ungodly, they're excluded from what we'll say a happy resurrection, they will be restored to life. They will be restored to life. There are many today, and they believe in cremation. And sadly, we see this in India, don't we? We see thousands of bodies being burned, but there's also cremation here in our own land. And somehow or another, many people believe if the body's burned to ashes, it will not be raised. Let me tell you, God can raise ashes. If God can make a body from ashes, God can raise a body from the ashes again. They're going to be raised on that great and glorious day. And those who have died rejecting Christ, they're going to be restored to a body that will physically endure the wrath of God for eternity. You know, I've tried oftentimes to think through that truth, and I can't think through it. It's such an awesome truth that these bodies of ours, which are sown in corruption, they're going to be raised incorruptible. Which are sown weak, they're going to be raised strong. But the same body of the ungodly, which is sown in corruption, will be raised incorruptible in the sense that it will never die. It will never die. The judgment of God will never expire upon it. It will endure for all eternity under the wrath of Almighty God. Now if that doesn't burden Christians to pray, if that doesn't burden you to be in the prayer meeting, if that doesn't burden you to seek God for your loved ones that are unconverted, I don't think anything will. The prelude to the judgment, of course, includes the separation of the righteous, the saved, and the unsaved. When the Lord Jesus comes back, there's going to be division. physical division. The Bible teaches us that the angelic hosts that will come on that day, they'll gather out the wheat first of all. They're going to gather out the elect from all over the earth. They're going to be gathered out. Do you think you'll be left behind at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? The angels are not going to miss one of us. If we're the generation that remains until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're not going to be left behind. The angels are not going to miss one of us. We're going to be gathered out, the wheat will be gathered into the barn. But we read in Matthew 13, 41, 42, that those angels who gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity shall cast them into a furnace of fire. And there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Sometimes ungodly portray hail as some sort of eternal party. There's no parties in hell. Young person, you get that out of your mind? There's just damnation in hell. All history is bringing us closer to the final judgment day. It's fixed in God's eternal calendar. It cannot be unpicked. It cannot be undone. There's not many certainties that we do have in life, but it's certain that one day we're going to die. It's certain that one day we're going to give an account to almighty God. And in the light of that fact, Paul, he said this, this is the great leveler of all in Romans 14 verse 10 to 12. We'll come back to this passage just in a little minute. He said, why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. What's the application? The application is this. Don't be sitting in judgment on some other individual that doesn't have the teaching that you have, that doesn't have the opportunities that you have, that doesn't have the background and the evangelical understanding that you have. Don't sit in judgment on them. Why? because we'll all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And when you stand before him, I guarantee you, all of us will say nothing. We'll have nothing to say. the prelude. Secondly, the person to whom the judgment has been entrusted. Theologically, of course, we have to say that God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost will judge the world on that last day. God is judge himself, that's what Psalm 50 verse six teaches us. And yet the Bible plainly reveals that Christ is the God-man, as the mediator between God and man, as the son of man, he is the one to whom this work has been given. We're reading that great passage in Acts 17 and verse 31, the key text, it says, he hath appointed the day. in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." He will judge the world in righteousness. Christ will judge the world in righteousness. He is the judge. And there are several reasons why the Lord Jesus has been entrusted with this role. The Bible teaches us this is his honorary reward for his state of humiliation. We have looked at his state of humiliation in his life, in his crucifixion, in his death, and in his burial, but he's no longer in that state of humiliation. He is in the state of exaltation. And this is the final, as it were, apex of his exaltation. He's coming back as the great judge. This is his reward for the spitting. This is his reward for the buffeting. Literally every eye will see him. This is the exalted Lord to which every knee will bow and give an account at spitting. I think also that those who have been raised are going to see a visible face at that last day. We're going to see him. Every eye shall see him. We've often pondered what he must be like. What must it be like to look into the beautiful face of the Lord Jesus Christ? We've often thought about that, even in our meditation of the Word of God. By and by, when we look in his face, we often sing, but we haven't even contemplated even a fraction of it. What will it be to see him? That Christ is the supreme judge, I think, will be to the consolation of the believer. He is the one before whom they stand, and he stands before them in their nature. He is the God-man. He has redeemed them. He is their sole advocate. He cannot condemn those whose condemnation he has already borne at Calvary. And that is sweet to the soul of the believer. I will give an account. I know I will give an account for how I preach this sermon today. How you listen it, you'll give an account. But I thank God Christ. He paid the account of my sins on the center cross at Calvary. The condemnation of the ungodly will be seen to be more just if the Savior of sinners condemn them. And if the Savior's sinners be heard to pronounce their doom, then they will be worthy of the punishment that is meted out to them. He's not coming back, men and women, as a gentle lamb for sinners slain. Rather, he's coming back as the lamb upon the throne to execute judgment. And can I speak simply again to the unsaved that are listening in the building or listening online, can I just speak earnestly to you? You're faced with two simple choices today. Repent of your sin and receive Christ as your savior, or reject Christ as your savior and meet him as your judge. You'll make that decision before this meeting is over. Thirdly, Let's consider as we close today the participants who will be arrayed before the eternal judge. Who are the ones that will be brought to the bar of the eternal judgment of God? Well, included in that will be the fallen apostate angels. Remember that rebellion in heaven that Lucifer led and how those who were created by God to serve him rebelled against him and they were cast out with Lucifer the morning star. We read in 2 Peter 2 verse 4, if God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. You know the application of that is, if God spared them not, do you think he's going to spare you? If God spared not the angels that he created and rebelled against him and they were cast down into hell, do you think he's going to spare you? We know the answer to that. In Jude verse six it says, the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains unto darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. They're going to be called to give an account. What in a size this is going to be, what a judgment dream it's going to be. Those demons, those fallen spirits that cause mayhem and havoc at the behest of Satan across this world and that oppose righteousness and oppose truth on that day, they're going to stand before God's judgment bar. And they are reserved, the Bible says, unto the judgment of that great day. Satan is going to be called to the judgment bar of God. His demons are going to be called to the judgment bar of God and they're going to suffer the eternal wrath of God. The ungodly are going to be there. Acts 10.42 tells us, he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. By quicker meant those that will be found alive at Christ's coming and dead, such as have been dead. They're going to be raised. Remember the unrighteous are going to be raised as well, and they're going to be brought to the judgment. All must stand and give an account before him. In 2 Corinthians 5 and 10 we read we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad. In 2 Timothy 4.11, we read, Paul said to young Timothy, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He's charging him in the light of the judgment day as a young minister. He's charging him. He says, I charge you who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing. And that is kingdom. What a sentence is going to be pronounced We read in Matthew 25, 41, He's going to judge the devil and his angels. There is everlasting fire and perdition for them, but also He's going to say that to those that know Him not. Those that know Him not. Those that have rejected Him. Those that have turned away from him. How solemn is that word, depart. Today he says, come. That's the word of the gospel. The gospel is summarized just in that lovely invitation word, come. But on that day he said, depart. To where? into everlasting fire. I don't know what that all comprehends, but I know it's the very opposite to everlasting life. What judgment? I have heard preachers say that hell is just the absence of the presence of God. Let me tell you, it's no such thing. Hell is the eternal endurance of the wrath of God. There are many today in the broad evangelical church and they want to airbrush hell out of the scriptures. But here it is. We can't get away from it. We've been called to charge men and women to repent in the light of it. Question has often been asked, will believers be participants at that general judgment? Well, we know, and again I reiterate it, we are assured from scriptures they're not going to come into the judgment of condemnation because Christ has already borne our punishment. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already." We're not condemned. Not a wonderful scripture today to lay hold on. We're not condemned. I know we're going to be in that bar one day, but I'm not condemned because Christ, he took my condemnation. Paul took that up, the words of Christ, John 3, 18 and Romans 8 and 1, and he said, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation, now I fear. Believers will not come into the judgment of condemnation. But believers at the resurrection, our short of catechism teaches, will be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity. Those who have been justified, adopted and sanctified and who have persevered will be openly acknowledged and acquitted by God. So what will we be there for? Well, the good works of the saved will be produced on that day. The books will be opened, not as the grounds of our acquittal, but as the evidence of our saving state and our interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Certain aspects of those good works are made mention of in scripture. I think it's good that we just make mention and reference to them in particular. Go to Matthew's gospel, chapter 25. And this ties in so wonderfully into what we've been learning in the Beatitudes over the past weeks. Matthew's gospel chapter 25, verse 34, Matthew 25, 34. The Bible says, then shall the king say unto them, on his right hand, those who are the sheep of his pasture, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now the works are produced. The evidence is sought and it is brought to the final judgment. For I was unhungered and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came unto me. It's as if there's a review and all the good works were produced on that day. As Christians, how circumspect we ought to be as we walk this narrow way to glory. I'm going to take you back again to Romans 14, 11 and 12. As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Aren't you glad you don't have to account for anybody else? But you do have to account for yourself. Going to be a great bonfire on that great day. Because Paul wrote off it in 1 Corinthians 3, 13 to 15, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall be claret because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. And if any man's work abides which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward, and if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Some people will produce the wood, the hay, the stubble on the judgment day. Look what I did. But it'll be burned in the consuming fire of God. It'll mean nothing. We're going to give an account to your brother and sister of our stewardship. You as a father are going to give an account. You as a mother are going to give an account. You as a son or daughter are going to give an account. You're going to give an account as a church member, a church office bearer, and going to give an account as a pastor. I am assured that nothing will be looked over on that day. Jesus said in Mark 9, 41, that whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Whatever you have done for Christ, you're not going to lose your reward. Not wonderful. Whatever it is, small though it may be in the eyes of others, even a cup of water given as a name will not lose its reward. John Brown again summarized the state of Christ's exultation, and he taught it was necessary in respect to his father. He taught it was necessary in respect to himself, but he taught it was necessary in respect to the elect. It is necessary that he had to be exalted. That's why we spent time looking at it. In his resurrection, he secured our union with him. In his ascension, he took possession of heaven in our name, in the name of the elect. In his session at the right hand of God the Father, he secures our glorification in due time. He's praying for us. And in his coming to judgment, he will crown the elect with glory and with honor. We'll give an account, but none of us will lose our reward. So in the light of all of Christ's exultation, in the light of his coming, I think then surely in our hearts, doesn't Christ deserve the place of highest honor? God has exalted him to the place of highest honor at the right hand of the majesty most high. It behoves you and I to give Christ the place of highest honor in our own lives. He doesn't want to sit in the back kitchen. He doesn't want to sit in some spare room. He wants to take possession of all of the life. And for you and I to exalt him in every part of our lives, And in the light of that, let's strive to live righteously and godly in this present evil world, looking for his glorious appearance and of our being with him forever and forever. He is exalted. And through his exalting, you and I one day are going to be exalted too. May the Lord bless all of these solemn truths to our hearts and to our lives today for his great name's sake. We're going to close with just a few verses of that great hymn that we referenced. This is our story tonight for the boys and girls, so we're going through that very quickly. Again with the same problem with the two different systems, but we'll give it a go. Just a few verses of this great hymn. It's a hymn if you want to look it up at home. If you want even to bring in your own hymn book to the service, it's up to you. We can't give out hymn books anymore, but if you bring in your own hymn book, that's okay, and take it back home with you again. We don't want you to leave it here. Or even if you want a hymn book, we can give you one. You keep it and don't lose it. And you keep it and bring it back and forth with you. Lo, he comes with clouds descending. We'll sing just a few verses of this hymn. Christ is living, once more the earth sings. Christ, Christ, sins attacking, swelleth high above. Praise God, hallelujah, God appears on earth to reign. We'll make this verse again our final praise. ♪ Lo, he comes with blood descending ♪ ♪ Watch, Lord, we worship your sting ♪ ♪ Rising, rising, saints attending ♪ ♪ Trembling, triumphant ♪ Let's please close our service in prayer. There's one in the meeting, and you'd like to speak to me. I'm always here to help. Don't feel you have to run away. I'm always here after the end of the meeting. Just come and say to me. We can find a quiet place to talk to you about the things of God. Remember the meeting tonight. We're going to look at the healer of broken hearts, and we'll have a little word for the boys and girls that gather in with us tonight. So remember that, please, in the will of God. Father, we thank Thee for this great day that we have been contemplating when the Lord Jesus Christ in all of His awesome glory is coming back again. We thank Thee that on that day the dead are going to be raised, the saved and the unsaved are going to be separated. and the great ages of past, present, and future, they're gonna be called to the final great assays. Oh Lord, we ask that thou will prepare hearts for that day. We thank that the invitation today is to come, but on that day the word will be depart. Bring sinners to faith in Christ today, I do beseech thee. Help us as believers to live in the light of that day. We know one day we're going to give account of our stewardship. And we pray, Lord, that we'll give a good account on that day. That those works that will be produced will not be consumed in the eternal fire of the judgment day, but rather that they'll be to the glory and honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear us now, we do beseech thee, bless us as we part our company, and be with us throughout the remainder of the afternoon. And in thy will and providence, may it please thee to reassemble us again this evening. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, rest, remain, and abide with you, both now and evermore. Amen.