Please turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. The title of this morning's sermon in finishing this series concerning Dispensationalism is that Dispensationalism's secret rapture is not the biblical hope. The secret rapture of dispensationalism is not the biblical hope. Let us read in 1 Thessalonians 4 from verse 13 to 18. This is God's Word. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent, that is go before, them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. Amen. So the scriptures and the New Testament in a number of places holds out that the Christian life is characterized by faith and hope and love. Faith in Christ for salvation, trusting in Him alone for the forgiveness of our sins and for our life and acceptance with God, love for God because He's first loved us, and hope for the fulfillment of all God's promises, faith and hope and love. So Romans 5 verse 1 and 2 says, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So Christians are those, Described also in the passage we've read, Christians are those who have hope. We have something to look forward to. We are looking back in faith to what Christ has done for us, that we might be saved, and we are looking forward in hope to what God has promised will happen. So in verse 13, there's this contrast between believers and the rest of the world who are those which have no hope. This hope isn't just a weak wish, a great desire that something might happen. The Christian hope is a surety, a certain knowledge that what God has promised will come to pass and faith is the substance of that hope. We have faith in Christ now and that's, as it were, the beginning of the fulfillment of God's promises. And the Bible tells us that our hope, what we're looking forward to, affects how we live now. So the Apostle John, in 1 John 3, verse 2 and 3, describes this hope. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. So hope affects how we live. I want to finish this series on dispensationalism, considering one of their key doctrines, particularly as regards hope, and that is their unbiblical hope in the secret rapture, the secret rapture. If you've watched, there would be certain films about that would depict this and this would make the headlines from time to time when one of their prophets would predict the end of the world to be coming at a certain date and that this event would be coming. But what I want us to see concerning the secret rapture is that it's a novel view, it's new in history, it's false according to the scriptures, and it distracts Christians from the true Christian hope and from the work that God has given in this world. So I want to look at this under four headings. Firstly, the dispensational secret rapture. Secondly, just to understand what they're saying in brief. Secondly, the biblical hope is for the end of all things. Thirdly, the biblical rapture is at the end of all things. Fourthly, the coming of the end of all things. Firstly, the dispensational secret rapture. What is the dispensational hope? The hope of dispensationalists for believers today is that before the end of this church age, this in-between age that they have made up and inserted between God's purposes for Israel At the very end, they have this seven years of tribulation where there's this Antichrist comes, there's great opponents of Christ and all these wickednesses and wars and terrible things happen. But before that, all the Christians who are then living will vanish, will be taken away. That Christ will secretly come. And that all those who believe in Christ, who are living at that time, will be taken from the earth and they will be safe with God in heaven, with Christ in heaven, when all these terrible things come on the earth. And after that tribulation then Christ will come again. and destroy the Antichrist and bring in his reign from Jerusalem on earth for that millennium that we've looked at already. And then after that, then there'll be yet another and the final resurrection and the final judgment. But their rapture, that becomes the hope of Christians living now. And they say, this has been the hope of every, or should be the hope of every believer from the time that Christ ascended to heaven. So they say, Paul and John and James and Peter, their hope was that Christ would come immediately and take them to heaven, that he would take the church to himself. And so this hope has been, put off in that sense for 2,000 years, but they say every Christian should believe that Christ will return at any moment. You might have heard some Christians speak in this way. They'll announce the next church meeting or announce some sort of appointment that they have, and they will say, yes, this is what we will do if the Lord tarry. That is, if the Lord doesn't return in the meantime, then we'll meet. Now, of course, that is true. If the Lord doesn't return in the meantime, yes, we will meet, but this is based on their view that they are to expect Christ to come at any moment. To believe, expecting that, that becomes their hope. This is effectively the dispensational hope. It is a novel view. It's a new view. This view of the secret rapture became popular about 200 years ago, the early 19th century, when the dispensational teaching that we've been considering became popular. And it is very interesting to see how it came into popularity was through a book written by a Jesuit priest. Jesuit, one of the Roman Catholic priests, particularly dedicated to the protecting of the Pope and his interests and the destruction of biblical Christianity. He wrote a book, and this was translated into English by by a Scottish minister, Edward Irving, and then it came to be part of this whole dispensational view. Maybe there were some people from time to time holding on to this particular secret rapture view earlier, but this is when it became so popular and became part of this dispensational system, and it became part of the Schofield Reference Bible and the things we've spoken of before. Now, why do they say that? Why do they hold this view? In terms of what is their scriptural basis? This passage we've read, which we'll be considering particularly, is part of the basis of being caught up in the clouds. It's part of the basis they give for their secret rapture. which is a false basis, but also there are passages, a couple of passages in Matthew and in Luke. Let's read the verses from Matthew. Matthew 24 and verse 40 and 41. And the context is that Christ is speaking to his disciples, speaking to us about his coming and describing His future coming, he's speaking much in this whole passage about the destruction of Jerusalem that would happen and the trials that would come on his people then. but also speaks of His coming at the end of time. And if we would look from verse 36, let us read, But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then down to verse 40. So again, speaking of the coming of the Son of Man, then shall two be in the field, and one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, and one shall be taken, and the other left. And so in Luke 17, verse 34 to 37, a similar description. And so this is taken to be a proof of the secret rapture, that people will just be going about their business and then suddenly... There are two people there, one vanishes, gone. Two people working, one vanishes. In Luke, two people in a bed, and one's gone. And this is said to be the same thing as in 1 Thessalonians 4, and said to be a secret rapture. Now the problems with, just from this passage, we're not going to consider this whole passage together, But first, just to look at the context in a couple of comments. And firstly, is that there is no secrecy here in Matthew 24. There's nothing secret about Christ's coming. Christ's coming is a very public event. What does it say in verse 27? For as lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. It's sudden, it's unexpected for many, but everyone sees it. The sky full of lightning, that is not secret. It's public. Also, the thing is what Christ is speaking of here, he's talking about his coming and his coming's at the end. There's nothing happening after his coming, even in this context. And we've seen that from other scriptures as well. Previously, there's no secret taking. And so, when we look at these verses here, if this was the only thing we had in the Bible, then maybe we might start to think about some sort of secret rapture. But it's not. And the context is public. Yes, there's suddenness and unexpectedness at the end. The timing, exact timing of Christ's coming is unknown. But any details that the dispensationalists might want to read in here have to come from somewhere else. And we can't. All we see, or the very least we see from this passage, is that Not everyone is saved. Not everyone belongs to Christ. The coming of Christ is not a blessing for all. There will be judgment and destruction for some or many. Another place where dispensationalists seek to prove the secret rapture is in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 4 verse 1, so the apostle John, the Lord's showing him a vision and at that point in the vision, so John's been shown, given letters to the churches and at that point in the vision, The Lord says to John by an angel, come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And then there's a description of, well, numbers of things, including times of trouble and tribulation. And supposedly, according to at least some dispensationalists, John here is like a representative of the church, and God, before any trouble comes on the earth, is calling John up to heaven. Come up here. And then these other things will happen. Well, this is really, it's a very unsound way of reading the scriptures. What we should see is John is being shown, being shown things that will come to pass through history, without going into the whole book of Revelation, but that the fact that he was coming up hither was that God was taking him to show him the throne room of heaven, to show him where he was seated on his throne as the ruler of all and to show him Christ as the King. There's nothing here of some sort of rapture of the church. Furthermore, we see John was not escaping any tribulation at the beginning of the book in chapter 1 verse 9, as he writes to the churches, I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. So there's no escaping the tribulation. God, as God says through the Apostle Paul in Acts 14, that through much tribulation that we shall enter the kingdom So as well as these things, the dispensationalists would say that we are to have this expectation of Christ coming at any moment because the New Testament speaks of the soonness of Christ coming. And I want to speak of that too a little bit later on. So this is the dispensational hope and some of those scriptures that they would seek to base this on, particularly wish to consider 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. But I want to secondly want us to consider what is the biblical hope? What is the biblical hope for the Christian? The biblical hope is for the end of all things. That's our hope, ultimately. There is a twofold hope for the Christian, both referred to in this passage. We have an intermediate hope for what happens to our souls at death. That's referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul, speaking concerning them which are asleep, in verse 13. Those, in verse 14, who sleep in Jesus. Those, in verse 16, who are dead in Christ. That's what it's talking about. The sleep here is the sleep of death. It's not soul sleep as there's an heresy of soul sleep that says when we die basically there's nothing, unconsciousness until the resurrection. No, the Bible teaches that when we are absent from the body, When our bodies are laid in the ground, if we belong to Christ, we are present with the Lord. Then immediately at day, the souls of believers are made perfect in holiness, as the Catechism says, and with Christ in heaven. And this language of sleeping, it's a comforting language for for believers. For us, as we consider our own death, however near or far we might think that is, or as we consider those loved ones who trust in Christ, who have died, that the Bible describes the death of believers and their condition after death as sleep, as it were, because they have passed from death to life when they believed in Christ. Christ says in John 5, 24, whoever believes in Him hath everlasting life and is passed from death to life. The death of our body becomes a doorway to blessing, to life with Christ, in the presence of Christ. If we are united to Christ, death as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15, has lost its sting. Yes, there's still the pain, there's still the sorrow of parting, the holes that are left, the loss, but we do not breathe as those which have no hope. There is a hope that we have at death, whenever that might be, of the presence of Christ. As 2 Corinthians 5 verse 8 says, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. This is not the end of our hope, and it's not the ultimate hope. Yes, we have that comfort and that hope for ourselves immediately, but ultimately the Christian hope is at the end of all things, at the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, of the final judgment, the renewal of heaven and earth, and life with God in body and soul forever and ever. And that's the burden, the main thing that Paul is talking about here in 1 Thessalonians 4. Yes, he mentions those who sleep, those who are dead in Christ, they remain united to Christ, but he is pointing and looking forward to the resurrection, looking forward to when all will be raised and when all believers will be with Christ in body and soul forever and ever. And here in 1 Thessalonians 4 we see something, we're told something of the order of the resurrection. Because we might ask, as maybe the Thessalonians were asking, how's it going to work? Because there are believers who have died, And yes, we believe their spirits are with God in heaven, but what's the relation of the resurrection to them, and what of those who will still be alive when Christ comes again? is given. What we see, we see when it will happen, when, verse 16, when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. So the Lord descending from heaven, the Lord coming back as the Lord went up in the clouds, the angel said to the disciples in Acts 1, so he shall come again. He shall descend, and as He will descend, He will bring with Him, as it were, the souls of believers with Him. So in verse 14, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. So Christ coming down with the spirits of men made perfect. In different scriptures we have a reference to the Lord coming down with His saints. One such is just in the chapter before in chapter 3 and verse 13, the end of a prayer of Paul, to the end, he may establish your hearts, unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. He's coming down with his saints and then he'll be reunited with all his saints. And so what we would see then, these souls, these spirits of men made perfect coming down with Christ from heaven and then reunited with their bodies. So whether their bodies are yet fresh in the grave as it were, or whether they had disintegrated centuries or millennia before, we are told the dead in Christ shall rise first. God Almighty God will raise them to life. He will give them their new body. And so that's like the first part of the resurrection, that those who have already died in Christ, they will receive their new bodies first and then 17 We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So that's the order that's given. When is it? It's at the return of Christ, at the descending of Christ. And what's happening? It's the resurrection of the body. In 1 Corinthians 15 we see this same thing and the same truths set forth before us. This whole chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, is concerning the resurrection of the body at the end. It is certain to happen because Christ was raised to life. And Paul is speaking concerning its certainty and concerning when it will happen and what will happen. If we just read from verse 20. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. So what do we see here? Again we see this resurrection happens at the coming of Christ. And the coming of Christ is at the end. Then cometh the end. And what has happened at the end? All his enemies have been destroyed. We're told in verse 26, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Verse 54, as we read, that then, at this time, after the dead have been raised, which is at the coming of Christ and at the end, and at that time, within a split second, we would say, in the twinkling of an eye, those who are yet alive have been changed, and so that all have their new incorruptible bodies, then it will be said, death is swallowed up in victory. No more death. finished, no more power. Now its sting is gone, but then it will be vanquished. Also, what do we see as we compare it with First Thessalonians, when's this happening? At the last trunk. The last trumpet, the trumpets sounding, death is finished. And so it's referring to the same thing as 1 Thessalonians 4, the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and that includes those who have already died, their bodies being raised and renewed and given new bodies, and those yet alive being transformed. It's all happening at once and it's at the end. This is in reference to believers. This is looking at believers at the general resurrection, that resurrection that we've already seen last week, that there is this resurrection, one resurrection at the end of the just and the unjust. Christ says in John 5, 29, that there is those that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation, but not the one day, the one hour when Christ's voice sounds. Acts 24 verse 15, Paul speaks of the Christian hope toward God that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. The scriptures set before us that after the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead and there's the renewal we read in 2 Peter of the destruction of the current heavens and earth and the new heavens and earth that will be created, that there's a final judgment that's set forth before us at the end, Matthew 25 and in Revelation chapter 20. This is the Christian hope. One complex of events. What are we looking to? Not this and to that and to that. To the coming of Christ when all will be fulfilled. We are looking back in faith to the cross whereby we are saved. Our sins are forgiven. We are renewed. We have the Spirit in us as a down payment, a deposit. in earnest of the inheritance that we will receive, and we're looking forward in hope to the end of all things. This is what the Scriptures speak of when it speaks of hope, when it speaks of a waiting for Christ, when it speaks of a looking for the coming of Christ. This is what it's talking about. 1 Thessalonians 1. in verse 9 and 10, Paul describing the life, the faith and life of the Thessalonian Christians. He says how, ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Paul writes to Titus in 2.13 how Christians are those in the present age who are looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Dispensationalists do believe in life after death. that Christians would be with Christ when they died, they do believe or profess belief in the resurrection of the dead. But they have made their functional hope, if you speak to them of their hope for now, for Christians now, and that which should be the hope of all believers, it is this secret rapture. take them before the great troubles will come. And they've multiplied resurrections, they've multiplied comings of Christ, they've multiplied judgments, they've inserted this earthly millennium, they've replaced effectively the true hope of the Christian with concern for personal safety, escaping from the troubles of this world. and a desire that after that, that's when God's plans and purposes for Israel will be back on track. That's when we'll see God's promises being fulfilled. That's part of how they look at it. We'll be taken away, we'll be safe, and then God's plan for the world can really start taking off. It is not the biblical hope. So the biblical hope is for the end of all things, the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, the renewal of heaven and earth, the restitution of all things. Thirdly, the biblical rapture is at the end of all things. The word rapture has been hijacked by the dispensationalists, but it's actually just taken from a Latin word meaning caught up. So the Bible doesn't have the word rapture and we can certainly remind folk of that. But the idea of being caught up and of believers at some point being caught up to Christ is scriptural. We have it here in 1 Thessalonians 17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So the problem is not the word as such, the problem is not the concept of being caught up, being raptured. The problem is with the dispensational secret rapture. is the nature of their rapture and the timing of their rapture. The nature of their rapture. They make it to be secret, but biblically it is anything but secret. What is happening at this time, remember the twinkling of an eye, split seconds separating these different things that are happening, The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God. There is no quietness, no secretness here. What did the scriptures say about the coming of Christ? Who will see it? Is it secret? Every eye shall see Him. Behold, He cometh with clouds. Revelation 1,7 and 8. Every eye shall see Him. Everyone will know when Christ comes back and when all the dead are raised, there is nothing secret about the biblical rapture. Yes, the day and the hour are unknown. Yes, the scriptures describe the coming of Christ as like a thief in the night. But when it happens, everyone will know. The Bible describes, everyone will know, not everyone will be pleased. There'll be those seeking that the rocks and the mountains will cover them to escape the presence of the Lord. So they get the, it's not the word, but they get the nature of the rapture rock. It's not secret, but also the timing. It doesn't, this is happening at the end. This is just part of one aspect of the resurrection of the dead which happens at the return of Christ at the end of all things. And so the dispensationalists introduced these different comings and resurrections and judgments. They would have, that after this particular coming of Christ, this descent from heaven and this rapture, They would have opportunities for repentance after the coming of Christ. So they would add in second chances, whereas the scriptures would hold out that Christ came once. for salvation, but the second time, without sin, unto judgment. It's given to men once to die and then the judgment. And when Christ comes, there is no more chances. The focus here is not personal safety while times of trouble might come on the earth. What is it? will meet the Lord in the end. So shall we ever be with the Lord. Part of what Paul is teaching here is that those Christians who happen to be alive when Christ returns, whenever that will be, have no advantage over those who have already died. Paul, in fact, says that it would seem that someone may be concerned. What's going to happen to those Christians who have died already? What's going to happen to them? We know we'll be right if we're still alive, but what about them? Paul says, verse 15, we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them that are asleep, shall not go before them. It's an older meaning of the word prevent, to go before. And rather, those who have died already, they'll receive their bodies first. I mean, again, it's the twinkling of an eye. It's a split second. But it's important also that we realise this in the context, because dispensationalists, they also place a special emphasis on And make it almost a part of faith that you believe that you are in the last generation before Christ comes. And that's an extra special thing. That you would be alive at the coming of the Lord. But the scriptures would not hold that as part of our hope. And so I want to consider then, lastly, fourthly, idea of the coming of Christ being immediate, and that we are to believe that it could happen at any moment, and indeed firmly to hold that it will happen within the very near future. And so fourthly, the coming of the end of all things. And we need to ask the question, what about the New Testament language speaking of the closeness of the coming of Christ? There are numbers of passages, I just want to read a few from different apostles. James 5, verse 8. Be ye also patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. It draweth nigh, it's coming near. 1 Peter 4, verse 7. But the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. So we want to ask then, did Paul, as we've read elsewhere, some of his statements to James, to Peter and John, believe in an immediate return of Christ? Did they believe that everything was gonna come to an end in their lifetime, or really that they should expect it in the very near future? This is what dispensationalism would have us to believe, that this was their expectation But no, that is not what they believed. We can see even with Peter. Peter did not expect to be alive when Christ returned. In 2 Peter 1 verse 13, Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me." So he's speaking of his approaching death. The Lord had showed him that he was going to die soon. Now, some might say, well, okay, maybe earlier in his life he expected Christ to come soon, but then as he got older, God showed him, no, I'm going to take you before I come. But according to the dispensational hope, each believer should expect Christ to come while they are yet alive. And that Peter would have, therefore, no business of speaking of his death, because Christ could yet come before he died. But also that the Bible shows, and the apostles taught, that certain things had to happen before Christ returned. So Christ, in Matthew 24, said that before the end, Matthew 24, 14, before the end, the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world. So the gospel had to be preached in all the world. And where was all that world? It was all the nations. Also Paul and 2 Thessalonians 2, which we won't look at today, but he said before Christ comes there had to be a great apostasy, there had to be the rising up of the man of sin, the man of lawlessness, who we would see from the scriptures to be the Antichrist, the beast, the the Pope, the Roman Catholic Church, there would have to be, before Christ came, there would have to be all that, and then the coming of Christ, and then His destruction. And so these things weren't happening in Paul's day. And so Paul wasn't expecting Christ to return any moment. Romans 11, we have predicted, prophesied that the nations coming in, the fullness of the Gentiles. We had the It said that Israel would be restored, the nation of Israel, ethnic Israel, restored to faith in God. These things had to happen before Christ would come. There were those so many Old Testament prophecies and the New Testament parables and teaching of the growth of the kingdom, the gathering in of the nations. All these things had to come. They weren't expecting Christ to come. in each day that they got up. They weren't advising meetings, well, if the Lord tarries. They knew the Lord had promised and said these things would happen. So we can see that, but also we should remember the New Testament teaching that the timing of Christ's return is unknown, the exact timing of it. So we read there in Matthew 24, similar words, but Matthew 25 to 13, Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. that none should presume and think, oh, the Lord's coming is a long way off. I've got plenty of time to do what I want. I've got plenty of time to live how I want. I'll repent later. We don't know when the Lord will acquire our souls of us. We don't know when we will die, when our bodies will perish and we'll be standing before our judge. we don't know the day or the hour of the return of Christ. But also, as regards this immediate return and this language of soonness, that the soonness of Christ's coming is from the perspective of God, as we read in 2 Peter 3, thousand years is as a day to the Lord. Christ at the end of Revelation, behold I'm coming soon. The eternal God, some thousand years, thousands of years, is a vapour to the eternal God. But also the soonness is to be understood and that The coming of Christ, the return of Christ is the next thing to happen. Christ has come once to accomplish salvation for all who believe. He's come once in humility to offer himself for the forgiveness of our sins. He is raised from the dead. He's seated at God's right hand. He's ruling now and building his kingdom. The next thing that's going to happen In terms of Christ and the earth in that sense, is His coming down to earth. So Acts 3 verse 21 says, Whom heaven must receive until the times of restitution. So that's what we're looking forward to. That's why Christians are described as looking for the appearance of Christ, of longing for His appearance. That's gonna be the accomplishment of all the promises of God. And so as regards our expectation, the New Testament, the Bible does not hold out before us and hope which expects Christ to come any moment, that we have to believe that he will come immediately. Rather, the readiness, the preparedness that we must examine ourselves as to and be working on is that we must always be ready to face the judge because we don't know when we will be called before his throne. We're not to be pretending that we have time up our sleeve, that we can wait till we've experienced a bit more, till we've lived a bit more as we want, but rather to be watching, to be ready, to be making amends to the Lord in that sense, but also that our hope while we look to and we'll just be praying for and working for the building of the Church, the extension of Christ's Kingdom in this world, the glory of Christ now, we'll be seeking to obey Him and to to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, that He would be glorified. While we're seeking that, our ultimate hope is when He comes again, because then all will be finished. However wonderful the times of blessing, might be that come upon the earth, and the times of unity in the church, and the times of peace in the world, and the levels of holiness that even as individuals we might attain, yet we will be, as we'll consider next week from Song of Solomon, we'll be, as Christians, we'll be black. but comely. Comely, beautiful in Christ, but we will still be tainted by sin. Sin will be still clinging to us, yet there will be portions of disunity, there will be disharmony, there will be sin in the world. But we are looking to a time when Christ returns, when the dead will be raised, when all who are yet alive will be changed, when death will be swallowed up in victory, All will be finished. There'll be nothing hindering our communications with God. No distractions. We'll have perfect harmony together, perfect peace, perfect joy. That is our hope. Not just getting out of here, being safe ourselves, but the end of all things. As we think of the coming of the end of all things, the soonness of it, Christ saying, surely I come quickly. We should see that the focus of the New Testament, of the Bible, is not on the timing of Christ's coming. It was certainly not to be setting dates. Christ said, no man knows the day or the hour. The focus is not on the timing, but on Christ. On Christ now, on Christ then. And on the fact of His coming. So the Christian hope is not, Christ can come any moment and take me to Himself. The Christian hope is, Christ is coming, then will be the end. It doesn't matter. whether we live or die in the Lord, so long as we are in the Lord. We can know that as we trust in Him looking back, as we hope in Him looking forward, that we will be like Him, we'll see Him as He is. We don't have to believe that we will certainly be the ones who see Jesus coming in the clouds or who meet him in the clouds as those who are alive at that time. The Bible doesn't promise that. That's not our hope. Our intermediate hope is that when we die, we will be with Christ. We're absent from the body, but we're present with Christ. We'll be made perfect in holiness. We'll still be waiting for the resurrection. That is our ultimate hope. Christ will come and raise us to life. We will be made like Him and be with Him forever and ever. That is the hope expressed and the focus expressed in those beautiful words in verse 17. Not worried about who was dead and who is alive. who receives a whole new body, or whose body, in that sense, or who is transformed, but we will meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Amen. Let us stand up and pray to God. Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for Thy Word. We thank Thee for the instruction as to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. We thank Thee that we are saved by faith alone and Christ alone, and that we are saved with hope, with a hope that This world is not all that there will be. With an hope that whatever blessings that there would be found in Christ now, that we might be forgiven of our sins, that we might have our consciences cleansed, that we might have Thy Spirit within us to enable us to seek after Thee and to grow in holiness by Thy grace. Yet, that there is a time coming when there'll be no more sin. There'll be no more separation, there'll be no more distraction, but only perfect harmony and joy and strength and beauty and glory and Thy presence forever and ever, body and spirit, and new heavens and a new earth. I do ask that for each, a Christian here, that there would be an encouragement and a fixing of our eyes upon Christ and for all those yet outside of Christ who do not have this hope, who are yet without God and without hope in this world. There would be a realisation of the necessity of securing the salvation of their eternal souls and of the attaining of that hope and of that joy that will be found in Christ alone. We ask these things in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.