Please be seated, and as we do so, let me quickly bring greetings to you from at least three pastors who have preached among us here. One of them is Dr. Kerry Kimbrell. comes into Zambia every year in June to preach at the African Pastors' Conferences, which we participate in a little indirectly. And so he's preached in this pulpit on one or two of those visits. And then we've also had a number of people Pastor Jeff Noblitt and our brother Paul Washer, who's the director of Heart Crime Missionary Society. Both of those have preached during our annual conferences, which we hold every year in August. They were sending their greetings. I'd like to ask you then to quickly turn with me to Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. As you do so, allow me to state that in the mornings on Sundays, we have been going through a series of messages on the subject of hypocrisy. And I'm taking just this Sunday as a break primarily because I had one outstanding assignment from the previous series of messages that I had done related to my 30th anniversary as pastor here. I had done 12 messages related to that, but the very last one, was preached when we were having the setting apart of our deacons. And afterwards, the elders took me aside and said that was a bit of an anticlimax because of the fact that there were too many things happening in one service. So it was felt that I should come back and redo that same sermon, but obviously redo it a little differently, because otherwise you'll all be sitting here thinking, you know, we should have also just downloaded the sermon from the internet and listened to it. And so instead of taking you back to the last book of the Bible and the last chapter in that book. We are now looking at the last chapter of Luke and chapter rather, yes, Luke chapter 24, but we're reading this 44 to the end of that chapter. So if you are there, I want to read and then with that slightly lengthy introduction, we will proceed to look at what on earth this is all about. So Luke chapter 24, and I commence reading from verse 44. And let me just mention to you as we begin reading that these are the last recorded words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel of Luke. Okay, so bear that in mind because it will have some significance. Then he said to them, and this is the Lord Jesus Christ, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to me, thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. And that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple, blessing God. Well, brethren, one of the reasons why I have opted to, as it were, interject our ongoing morning series to preach this message this morning is because those of you who have been KBC members for a number of years will know that every year in November I tend to preach an anniversary message. The reason being that although I began ministry here in September, the first two months of that ministry were spent merely, well, the word merely is unfair, but visiting church members, getting to know them, etc., before preaching to them. And at that time it was a little easier. There were only about 35 members, so two months was sufficient for those rounds to be made. And so it was only appropriate that when I was asked to deal with this, I thought, OK, November will be the right time. For those of you with short memories, The series that I did that took us 12 weeks basically first of all looked back to thank the Lord for what he had done among us in saving, in sanctifying, and also in turning us into a family of God's people that are gospel-centered. We also spent a bit of time looking at where we are at the present moment. We saw our areas in which we're doing well and also areas of failure. We're grateful to God for the strong doctrinal unity that we continue to enjoy based on the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. And yet we bemoaned our own weakness in the area of corporate prayer. We're grateful to God for the grand opportunities that we have today for ministry in a country like Zambia, and especially in the city of Lusaka. And yet at the same time, we're concerned about the spirit of the age taking root in our midst and especially among the younger section of our congregation. And then we ended by looking into the future. Where ought we to be going? And we emphasized that it's not so much what we should do as to what we should be. We said we needed to be conscious of the glorious privilege that we have as a people belonging to God. the creator and governor of the universe deals with the whole of this universe, he has us in mind. And therefore, not only as a congregation of God's people together, but as individual believers, we should learn to trust him, to love him and to obey him as we are being rooted and built up in Christ, as we are drinking in the gospel, reading his words, studying it, growing in our appreciation of our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the very last message that was not supposed to say, okay, What should we be with respect to the outside world? And we said we should be a people that say, come to the world in which we are. Come to a perishing world that they might come to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was really at that point that we got too much noise and perhaps the message may have been drowned. In coming back to it and coming to Luke and chapter 24, I think it's important that we begin by recognizing the fact, brethren, that very soon, very, very soon, we will all be dead. Yes, dead. Believe it or not, that we only have to go back less than 100 years, none of us here would have been walking around here. There were totally different people that occupied this space. Not so much this building, because it wasn't here. But living, walking around, fulfilling their activities here, whether it was going to work, or going to farm, or going to buy and sell, falling in love, having children, et cetera, et cetera. It was a completely different grouping of people. So if the Lord does not come back soon, fast forward, maybe just 50 years, let's not even go to 100, 50. Many of us who are here will be dead, buried. It surely begs the question, what is life? Come on. Are we simply born to try out our luck, multiply degrees, get a job, have a house, maybe two, maybe three houses? beef up a bank account, and then finally, while traveling between Lusaka and Ndola or wherever, bang, accident, gone. A few people cry for you for about two weeks. They call you the late, maybe for another six months. After that, nobody even remembers you. Is that what life is supposed to be all about? What is history? And what is my relevance in that history? What is our corporate relevance to that history? Because surely, if you are an intelligent human being, that should pass through your mind. Especially when you're reading the Bible, and you read a person like the one we just read this morning, and you know, a few people go into battle, and a few people get killed. And then you imagine yourself that maybe I was that person. got killed. Three, four thousand years ago, got killed. Is that all? Some master sends me into battle, I get killed. That's it. Sounds a bit like a cockroach, isn't it? We need an answer to these questions in the midst of the many activities that occupy us, politics, sport, graduations, various projects. getting married, having children, having parties, perhaps on the more negative side, disappointments, illnesses, deaths, accidents, and so on. In the midst of all these, we surely must have an answer. And especially in the face of death. when perhaps you are now looking into the coffin and you are seeing a loved one, someone you have lived with, you've been involved in activities together, and now you are saying, here, the person is lifeless, they are gone, they will never come back. And then you say to yourself, one day, very soon, it will be me who will be there, gone, never to come back. Surely, there must be meaning to life. I'd like to suggest to you that an answer to that question lies in the passage that we have just read together. Because what was really happening here is that the disciples had just undergone the most depressing experience in their entire lives collectively. And then suddenly, what ought to have been the most exciting experience, but because of the level of disappointment that they just had, they were failing to process the exciting episode. What is that? Well, Jesus had died. They had had all their hopes in him, somehow, that through him, Israel was going to be rescued from Roman captivity. And a number of them were entertaining, perhaps filling the corridors of power. And then they saw Jesus arrested, tried, badly beaten and bruised, finally hung on the cross, breathe his last, expire, dead. All their hopes in that one moment shattered. Number of them beginning to go back to catching fish and whatever else they were doing previously. And so when Jesus came back from the dead, they still, despite being told he's alive again, they still remained in a state of depression. And so the Lord Jesus Christ comes here to let them realize that the event they just witnessed, both what seemed to have been the most depressing event, and indeed what is the most exciting event, is according to plan. According to God's plan. And they are, but in the midst of the outworking of this glorious plan, they fit in somewhere. And it is in realizing where they were fitting in that these men were now willing to die. And many of them in the process died for this same faith. They were being told to borrow the words of a famous hymn that they are treading where the saints have trod. They were being told that. There is a history before you. You are now coming in into that history to fulfill your purpose in that history. You will be gone. But that great agenda continues. That great agenda continues to the very end. And brethren, that's what we need to realize. I know the last time I took us all the way to the end of the book of Revelation, but it's basically the same thing I'm doing today. To make us realize that we are part of a historic process. And if we can only realize that our lives take on meaning, both in life and in dying, it takes on meaning. We begin to realize how unique and special we are and we throw our weight especially into gospel work. Let's quickly see how this applies from the passage before us. I've just told you that these are the last words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, Luke continues in the book of Acts, and we'll go there in a few moments. But at least in this particular gospel, these are his last words. They are words that are meant to say bye. They are words that are meant to say, while I'm gone, This is what should give you a sense of direction. And he begins with pointing them backwards, giving them a key to understand history. And brethren, I want to say the same thing to us, that in order to trade where the saints have trod, we must have a biblical key to understanding history. We must be able to discern what history has been all about from the beginning of creation to this very moment. What is history? All these individuals that have been born and they've died and others have been born and they've died and they've been born and they've died. Is it just, as I said earlier on, like cockroaches coming into existence and somebody steps on you and you get squashed and it's over? Or has there been some meaning? Jesus showed the disciples here that what he underwent had actually been predicted in the Holy Scriptures. Verse 44 to verse 46. He said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. In other words, over and over and over again, I have spoken about all these things. And what is that? that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. And that phrase, Moses, the prophets and the Psalms is not Jesus speaking three or four books from the Old Testament. He's actually referring to the entire Old Testament. the scriptures as they were there before him in his own day. Genesis to Malachi. He's saying everything that had been written in all these had to be fulfilled. And then we go on to read verse 45. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Suddenly, all that they had read began to make sense. To make, I'll use a bigger term here, Christological sense, Christ-centered sense. They began to read at the back of their minds and as he was sampling, they're beginning to see that indeed it's all about Christ. And then he summarizes it for them. Listen to this, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. Let me try and put it this way to you, that the best way to understand history is through the greed, G-R-I-D, of creation, fall, redemption, and final consummation. Let me say it again. Creation, the fall, redemption, and final consummation. No prize for guessing where you learn about creation. Chapter one and two of Genesis. No prize for guessing where you learn about the fall. Genesis chapter 3 but even as you begin to go through towards the end of Genesis 3 the subject of redemption already begins in the serpent that bruises the heel of the seed and the seed that crushes the head of the serpent. You're already beginning to have a hint there. Already in the clothing of Adam and Eve, in the skin of the animals, you're already beginning to have a hint there. And as you begin to make your way through the Old Testament, The picture is getting brighter and brighter. The focus is slowly becoming clearer, crystal clear. And what is the clarity? That it is about not just redemption, but the actual redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who finally comes. So you have types across the Old Testament. You've got shadows across the Old Testament. The various individuals there who are pointing to Christ, the offerings and sacrifices pointing to Christ, the prophecies pointing to Christ, and so on and so forth. Finally, Jesus, the Redeemer himself comes. That's what he's telling us here. So the whole of biblical history prior to his coming is prefiguring his coming and prophesying his coming. Now brethren, read your old testament in that light. Rather than just seeing, you know, this one did this, therefore he's an example to me concerning this. This one did this, therefore he's an example for me concerning this. Read it in the light of this unfolding of historic redemptive purposes of God until finally Jesus Christ himself arrives. You begin to see purpose. in those individuals who died. You begin to see that sometimes, even when you've got death in your family, your husband dies. The husbands of your daughters-in-law, they also all die. In other words, your sons die. And you are sitting there saying, what is in this world for me? What is it? Those of you are biblical literate, you should know that I'm referring to Ruth's mother-in-law, Naomi. An entire book in the Bible. She loses her husband, she loses her sons. Now, if there's no purpose in history, that's tragic, it's disaster. She might as well take her own life. But the end of the story is that she becomes the great, great, great grandmother of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. There's purpose. There's purpose. There's purpose. That's your Old Testament. And Jesus is saying, it's all pointing to me. It's all pointing to me. Brethren, I want to repeat, go back to your Old Testament and let it give you not little stories for you to just say, okay, he smiled. I should also smile. But see this unfolding of history, because I'm about to come to you. See God's purpose leading to the coming of the Redeemer himself. Everything he is doing with the nation of Israel is leading finally to the day when he would send his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem us and all those who were under the law. Jesus says, it speaks about my suffering and my resurrection. That's what it is about. I finally come to fulfill all this. But let me quickly hurry on, because that's only foundational. If we are to trade with a sense of truth, we must see the implication of this in God's purposes. the implication of this in God's purposes. Jesus was not only giving his disciples his role in history, that the role of history is about him, but he immediately turns around and also speaks about the role of the church as well. the role of the church as well. Remember, he is the head, the church is his body. Consequently, it is now to carry out his purpose, the purpose of his death, the purpose of his resurrection, that which he has accomplished in redemption. Let's go back to our text. I'll begin this time with verse 45. Then he opened up their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and here is the next part, and repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. Now, let me quickly stop you from thinking the way I used to think about this passage. And it is this, that the first part is talking about what is written. The second part is talking about what we must do in view of what is written. The answer is no. Jesus is saying, even that second part is what is written. Let me read again. Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. In other words, this entire process does not end with the death and resurrection of Jesus. And then after that, it is, to borrow a Bemba phrase, it's totally up to us now. The same Bible actually teaches that this ongoing work of redemption, that after the Messiah has come, after the Messiah has died, after the Messiah has been raised from the dead, there is going to be an explosion a multiplication, a spreading of this news that will no longer be limited to the people of Israel, but will bring in the Gentiles also from every nation, every people, et cetera, et cetera. And that God's own people are the ones who are going to carry this out. In other words, History continues on a redemptive note. It continues on a redemptive note until consummation comes. Until Jesus returns to wrap up history. History is still about redemption. Evangelism and missions are at the very heart of history after the death and resurrection of Christ. That's what he's saying here. Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations. In other words, in the first part, we had redemption accomplished, and now we are in the phase of redemption applied. That's the phase we are in. Redemption applied. Redemption applied. And to borrow the words of Jesus in Matthew 24, when this gospel reaches all nations and the elect are saved, history will come to an end. It will. Bang. Close. Because the purpose of history is over. It's over. That's the grand agenda of history. It's not about one nation becoming greater than another and now we should be worrying that perhaps China might become greater than America and so on. Or that Korea might release some missile and turn us all into ashes. There is a greater agenda. that the angels of heaven are peeping on earth about. It is this application of the work of redemption continuing across history. Let me put it a little differently. You don't even need to wait. That is you as an individual. You don't need to wait until the end of the world. That purpose comes to an end for you when you die. That's it. Your role in that purpose is over when you die. So if tomorrow we hear that you've collapsed and that on your way to UTH you were no more, we will know that in God's divine plan, your role in this purpose was over. Other players will pick it up and continue. Because God is not finished yet. He's not. He's not. Again, brethren, we need to face this fact. Otherwise, our lives on earth are meaningless. You are not an accident, you are not. You were brought in by God's divine purpose and somehow in the intricate designs of what he is doing for this gospel to continue spreading and spreading and spreading, you are in that plan. And sometimes your role is that of being an antagonist, like Pharaoh, or like the Herods. That's all. That's all. A pain in the back of the people of God. That's the role he's given in his sovereignty. And when it's enough, it's enough. He extinguishes you and you are gone into eternity. The train of the gospel continues. The train of the gospel continues. All I'm saying is face the fact. face the fact that you are caught up in the midst of a grand agenda, that repentance and forgiveness of sins may be proclaimed to all nations. And then the end will come. You are caught up in this grand purpose of the mind of God. And therefore, assuming it's you that will be saying goodbye to this week, and you're in the coffin here, this is what will be saying. Our brother, our sister, trod where the saints have trodden. His period was over. God called him. we must continue that work. Because our time will also come when we'll be called off. Others will come in to do the work until Jesus Christ returns. But here's the final point, where Jesus ends. And it is that we must be conscious of both our responsibility and God's provision. Both our responsibility and God's provision. That's the only way we can trade where the saints have trod. This is where Jesus finally leaves his disciples. They had great responsibility. and God was going to give them the help. Let's quickly read those last words. Verse 48, you are witnesses of these things and behold, I'm sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. These brethren had this unique position in history, creation, fall, redemption. They had this little corner. when Jesus himself, the second person of the Trinity, came into this world in the form of man, lived, suffered, died, was raised from the dead, and went into heaven. They had the unique privilege of seeing that with their own eyes. You are witnesses of these things. You've seen it for yourself. The prophets gazed at a distance, trying to figure out the details of what it was that was being given to them in piecemeal. Not so with you. You've worked with me. You've heard me teaching. You've seen all my miracles. You've actually witnessed my death and resurrection. Therefore, you are the ones who must now go and speak to the world. That's your responsibility. Go and speak. But then he calls them. to a never to be repeated event. And that is that they should wait until the coming of the Holy Spirit to come and give birth to the New Testament Church. And in giving birth to the New Testament Church, he would empower them further that they might be courageous witnesses of that which indeed he did in Christ. And brethren, I don't need to tell you about it. The entire book of Acts is full of what was happening there. Read it. Read it. I'll just read to you the first part. Acts 1. In the first book, O Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands, there it is, commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. We've just read that. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying there with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And the Holy Spirit did come. Now, I'm deliberately digressing a little bit because in the recent, in the last 100 years, there's a new rendering that has been brought into this passage of scripture that suggests that we should all be somehow waiting in our own Jerusalems until, for each one of us, the Holy Spirit must come. And then when he comes, he will then empower us for service. Well, that's certainly not what is being taught in this passage of scripture. It was a once for all event that took place. The Holy Spirit came and consequently these witnesses who saw for themselves the life and death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, that they would consequently be able to testify of it as those who have been empowered by God himself. Again, the Book of Acts gives us the details. And that's why the statement there ends with, not many days from now. It's about to happen. It happened. The result of that is the Book of Acts. And brethren, when you read that book, you can almost forget that there were other things happening in their lives. You almost miss the fact that there were political things that were happening in their own days. Various heralds handing over power to others. efforts at the people of Israel being liberated from Roman oppression. You can almost miss the fact that they had sports in their own day in the great coliseums where gladiators were fighting. And there was a lot of excitement in the community, in the cities concerning those sports. You'd almost forget that there were great projects that they were involved in, that today have become great sites for tourists to go and see. Those things were being built in those days. You can almost forget that they were falling in love and marrying and having children. You can almost miss it. That there were things that they were celebrating in their own days. You can almost forget that they were experiencing disappointments as well as the people of God. Disappointments in terms of having terrible rulers over them. Disappointments in terms of in their own sporting world, losing instead of winning their matches. You can almost miss the fact that there were disappointments with projects that failed, big projects. You can almost miss the fact that they also had disappointments in failed courtships and failed marriages. You can almost miss the facts that they had illnesses and they had deaths in their families. Why? Why would we miss those facts? Is it that the book of Acts is superficial? That it doesn't scratch where it's itching? No, friends, it's the fact that there was a greater agenda, a greater agenda, and the greater agenda is the work of redemption from beginning to end, and that is what is captured in that book. Oh, that we may realize that, brethren, There is a greater work that God is doing than that loss that happens in your own little life. When you fail your exam, that little life of yours, when a child is ill, that little life when you lose employment. There is a greater, greater agenda. Redemption. Redemption! Redemption! Evangelism and missions. Evangelism and missions. Evangelism and missions. At the heart of history, the Book of Acts captures it. But don't think that the kind of things we wake up with on our minds, the kind of things that cause us to run into this life, to fulfill, don't think those people in the book of Acts did not have them. They had plenty of them. Plenty of them. Plenty of them. Friends, it's no longer the apostles on the stage of history today. They've gone. It's not even the early church fathers, not even the reformers and puritans, not even the pioneer missionaries that invaded the dark continent of Africa. They've come, they've gone. The baton is in our hands. That's where it is. It's in our hands. And that's not suggesting that the many things we are doing in our lives are not important. Don't get me wrong. Otherwise, so much of this Bible would not be there. It mattered that Naomi lost her husband. It mattered that she lost her sons while out there in the diaspora, in the foreign land. It mattered to God that one of her daughter's in-laws said to her, I'm not leaving you. Wherever you go, I'll go with you. It mattered. My point is this, something greater matters. Something greater matters. God is on an agenda across history. Brethren, let's not miss it. Let's not miss it. There are too many churches in the world that have become nothing more than a little holy club. where people feel nice about being together, enjoying social activities, and there is nothing there that is happening with respect to the salvation of sinners, with respect to the sanctification of saints, with respect to the gospel reaching further afield. They're not interested. Irrelevant to the purposes of God. All that God would save us from that type of life as a church. All that God would keep us faithful, that he would keep us concentrated on that which is at the center of history. Creation for redemption. Until he comes in consummation. And we are the church that must now carry out that purpose. How? Let the Holy Spirit, who is now resident within you as a believer, help you as you testify concerning this great salvation in Christ. Let me say it again. Let the Holy Spirit use you as you testify. Not him, you testify. He helps you to testify concerning God's great salvation in Christ. But also remember, the church is not just individuals. that have been bunched together somehow, we are gifted individuals. We've got different gifts, different abilities. Find your place in this body of God's people. We're not all mouthpieces. Others are hands, others are ears, others are feet. We've got different roles in the church, but make sure that with respect to the work of redemption, you are not asleep at the back. Because there's great work that's happening, brethren, great work. an active part of it, and refuse to rest until you can hear of fresh recruits coming out from the world, being baptized either here or elsewhere. upon new profession of faith. Refuse to rest. Refuse to rest until you hear of more churches gospel center churches being planted around the world and especially in places where we have very, very, very, very few Christian churches refuse to rest. Put your prayers there, your hottest prayers, put them there. that this great machinery of God that grinds across history might rape the souls for which Jesus Christ died. Let me hurry on to close. Remember, these were among the very last words of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was speaking to a group of people that were in the midst of emotions of depression and emotions of ecstasy. He's about to leave them and he's giving them the final marching orders. It wasn't long before almost each one of these was martyred. for the faith, killed. History has it, whether it's true or not, I'm not sure, that Paul was put into an empty teatrunk and sewn into half. That's the way he was killed. Peter was crucified upside down because he refused to be crucified the same way as his master, dead. The time came when the only surviving one was John, and he went to hide on an island called Patmos. And he himself testifies in the midst of writing that book, that I wept and wept loudly, he says, wept loudly. They are all gone. Here we are. Here we are. Brethren, how easy it is for us to get carried away, chasing little rabbits, little rabbits that have got nothing to do with this grand outworking of history. And often it's because we lose sight of this. Our minds don't capture this reality. A number of years ago, somebody took me for what Americans call football. Now, the number of Americans here, so I won't say much more than that, but let me say what happened. It was very frustrating because they would start stoop. Start stoop. Just when I'm getting excited, stoop. They start running stoop. Start running stoop. I kept thinking now, come on. So this pastor who took me there, I finally said to him, because he was excited, so I finally said, could you explain to me what's going on? Because, you know, me, the football, you know, people run and run and run, run, stop, run, stop. So as he began to explain to me what's really going on, which I've since forgotten, by the way, so don't ask me. But when he explained, I could begin to understand the excitement. It is an intelligent game, a little more intelligent than FIFA football. And when you understand it, you can get excited even when they stop, you are excited. Because you've understood. Now brethren, that's the point here. When you understand history in its biblical framework, your death is not a disaster. No, it's not. Because you've understood there was a period that was given to you, you were faithful, you labored, you did your lot, your period is over. It's a triumphant entry into glory. You must now leave others to continue the grand purpose. of redemption. Redemption. Redemption. Redemption. I want to ask you, as you are sitting there, what are you doing with respect to redemption? Redemption. Redemption. What are you doing? Because that's at the heart of history. And when it is over, it doesn't matter whether you're just about to finish whatever project it was. The angels will sound the trumpet. Jesus will return. History will be over. Over. Completely over. The purpose is done. And you must now appear before God, your maker, to give an account to him. It may be on the eve of your promotion, on the eve, or maybe you've already been promoted. It's just now, just the salary. You're about to get your double salary. Because life is not about increased salaries. No. Let me close with a final appeal, and it's not to the Christians. It's to those of you who continue hardening your hearts about the gospel. Answer me this question. Close this topic I've just talked about. Put aside creation, fall, redemption, and final glory. Close it down. Tell me, what is your life? What's this meaning? What do you live for? What can I say to you? I'm now by your deathbed. You've been told very clearly you've got a few hours left to live. And I must say something to you to encourage you. Tell me, what can I say? Apart from lying to you that don't worry, you'll get better tomorrow. What can I say? That's the horror of the non-Christian state. It's emptiness when it matters the most. It's emptiness. And people say, no, I will receive this Christ just before I die. You've missed out on participating in this grand agenda of history. You've missed out. You've missed out. That's not wisdom. No. You give your life to Christ now and you become an active participant in this grand agenda so that when your life comes to an end, we can say a soldier has left the field, has graduated, has gone home. I plead with you therefore, yield your life to Christ now and have meaning in life.