1. "Friends, in case you're in any uncertainty, rotting is not a good summary of anything that is the Christian's ultimate hope."

2. "To shield us from the way death tears at our soul, we imagine sweet and sentimental scenes. Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are once again attending operas together in some heavenly opera house."

3. "Jesus is showing the difference here. Remember, these righteous people didn't realize fully what they were doing. They did it because they were His and they will forever enter into His blessed presence."

4. "You can't undo your sins. Every single person here, myself, those of you who know best, those of you I've never met, all have in common a human nature. We're made in the image of God. We've been made by God. We've been made with the ability to come to Him, but all of us have sinned against this God and against others made in His image."

5. "Those sins never fade. They never become unreal before an eternal God. Those sins exist before Him and cry out for justice. So what will we do? We will either take it with us to hell, or we will take it to Calvary, where God has a provision for us in Christ."

6. "The culmination of history according to the Bible is no man-made tower of Babel built up, but rather the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God."

7. "How does the name get written in the Lamb's Book of Life? Well, we can't do it ourselves. God alone can set our name down on those heavenly pages. Note who owns the book. It's the Lamb's. He has created it by His own sacrifice. He has written the names in His own blood."

8. "You wonder, could the wiping away of our tears by God be more pleasurable than the tears themselves were painful?"

9. "He used the word God rather than Father there because fatherhood in our world is only meant to point toward God and what God is like. Our relating to Him as God will completely encompass and surpass our relating to Him as father."

10. "We can only live today as we should when we know the truth about tomorrow. When we have this great hope to lie as a coal at our cold hearts, we're warmed to be able to trust and even love this God who has made and provided so for us."

Observation Questions

1. In Matthew 25:31-33, what does Jesus say will happen when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and how does He describe the separation that will take place?

2. According to Matthew 25:34-36, what specific actions does the King commend the righteous for doing, and what inheritance does He say has been prepared for them?

3. In Matthew 25:41 and 46, what destination and duration of punishment does Jesus describe for those on His left, and for whom was this punishment originally prepared?

4. According to Revelation 21:3-4, what does the loud voice from the throne declare about God's dwelling place, and what sorrows does God promise to eliminate?

5. In Revelation 21:27, who is permitted to enter the holy city, and who is excluded from entering?

6. According to Revelation 22:3-5, what activities will God's servants engage in, what will they see, and how long will they reign?

Interpretation Questions

1. In Matthew 25:37-40, the righteous are surprised by the King's commendation and ask when they served Him. What does their surprise reveal about the nature of genuine faith and its relationship to good works?

2. Why does Jesus use the same word "eternal" to describe both the punishment of the wicked and the life of the righteous in Matthew 25:46, and what does this parallelism teach us about the duration of each?

3. In Revelation 21:2, John sees the New Jerusalem "coming down out of heaven from God." How does this imagery contrast with human attempts to reach God (like the Tower of Babel), and what does it reveal about the source of our salvation?

4. Revelation 21:22-23 states that there is no temple in the city and no need for sun or moon because God's glory provides its light. What does this teach us about the nature of our relationship with God in the new creation compared to our present experience?

5. In Revelation 21:7, God promises "I will be his God, and he will be my son." How does this promise of adoption connect to Christ's unique relationship with the Father, and what does it mean for believers who are united to Christ by faith?

Application Questions

1. The sermon described how understanding the doctrine of hell helped a university student appreciate hymns about Christ's atonement in a new way. How might a deeper understanding of what Jesus saved you from change the way you worship, pray, or read Scripture this week?

2. Jesus identifies care for "the least of these" as evidence of genuine faith in Matthew 25. Who are the hungry, thirsty, strangers, sick, or imprisoned people in your daily life, and what is one specific way you could serve them this week as an expression of your love for Christ?

3. The sermon noted that we often create sentimental but baseless views of the afterlife to shield ourselves from the reality of death. How do the Bible's clear teachings about eternal punishment and eternal joy change the way you think about conversations with unbelieving friends or family members?

4. Revelation 21:4 promises that God will wipe away every tear and eliminate death, mourning, crying, and pain. How should this future hope shape the way you respond to a current sorrow, disappointment, or suffering you are facing?

5. The preacher said, "We can only live today as we should when we know the truth about tomorrow." What is one decision, priority, or attitude in your life right now that would change if you more deeply believed that the world to come is more certain and lasting than anything in this present world?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Romans 2:1-11 — This passage, referenced in the sermon, describes God's righteous judgment and the tribulation awaiting those who do evil, reinforcing Jesus' teaching on eternal punishment.

2. 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 — Paul describes the Christian's hope of a heavenly dwelling and the certainty of appearing before the judgment seat of Christ, connecting to the sermon's themes of bodily resurrection and final judgment.

3. John 14:1-6 — Jesus promises to prepare a place for His disciples and return to take them to be with Him, offering assurance about the believer's eternal home that complements Revelation 21.

4. 1 John 3:1-3 — This passage explores the believer's identity as a child of God and the purifying hope of seeing Christ as He is, connecting to the sermon's teaching on adoption and future glory.

5. Isaiah 65:17-25 — God's promise of new heavens and a new earth where former troubles are forgotten provides Old Testament background for the new creation described in Revelation 21-22.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The World's Confusion About What Happens After Death

II. What God Will Do With Those Finally Cursed (Matthew 25:31-46)

III. The Endless Joy of the Righteous in the New Creation (Revelation 21-22)

IV. Living Today in Light of Tomorrow's Hope

Detailed Sermon Outline

One of the many amazing ministerial lunches I've had was just a few blocks from here over on Pennsylvania Avenue. It's years ago when I had recently come here and I tried to meet up with all the ministers who were already in churches on the Hill. And as I talked to this one minister, I asked him at one point, so what do you think happens when you die? And I'll never forget his response. He said, I don't know.

I suppose you're right.

Stunned, I asked, Do you think Jesus said anything about this?

He was, after all, a Christian minister.

But he responded with his confident agnosticism, I don't know. But I wouldn't suppose it would matter if he had.

Though he wore the clothes that were associated with some historically Christian churches, his answers reflected the mindset of the unbelieving world. Friends, in case you're in any uncertainty, rotting is not a good summary of anything that is the Christian's ultimate hope.

But it does take its place along with the countless other confident assertions that I've heard about the next life. Many of the most colorful being at funerals. I mean, how many times at someone's funeral have I heard people about the great living room in the sky, where we're all going to sit around and share old family stories with those who've gone before him. To shield us from the way death tears at our soul, we imagine sweet and sentimental scenes. Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are once again attending operas together in some heavenly opera house.

Countless eulogies and obituaries suggest that deceased reporters are up there reporting, race car drivers are up there driving, Chefs are up there cooking. And I'm not sure in such a view of heaven what morticians are supposed to be doing.

Religions, too, have their answers about the world to come. Hinduism has various scenarios usually involving reincarnation until all become one. Mormonism suggests that we, or at least some of the we's, get to have our own universe.

Buddhism teaches that there is a paradise to be gained, an unending land of earthly delights.

And Buddhism teaches us that the end of everything is nirvana, blissful nothingness, where desire ends not by being satisfied, but by being eliminated.

What will be the end of this story?

What is the end of history according to the Bible?

What is God doing? What end will He achieve? All these questions are resolved in what the Bible teaches about the final state of a world restored to God with His purposes consummated. And that's what our church's final article is about, Article 18, that we read just a few minutes ago. In it we state that God will raise the dead, meaning our very bodies will be raised just like Christ was.

But what will happen to us then?

To look at that teaching, we want to turn to two passages in the Bible. First, Matthew 25, then Revelation, chapter 21. First, Matthew, chapter 25. Turn there with me, if you would. Matthew, chapter 25.

What will God do with those who are finally cursed by God. Matthew chapter 25 concludes with the famous teaching of Jesus about the final judgment. When we read in Matthew 25 verse 31, When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne, before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave Me food. I was thirsty and you gave Me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed Me. I was naked and you clothed Me. I was sick and you visited Me.

I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see youe hungry and feed youd or thirsty and give youe drink? When did we see youe a stranger and welcome youd? Come you or naked and clothe youe. And when did we see youe sick or in prison and visit yout? And the King will answer them, Truly I say to youo, as yous did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me.

Then He will say to those on His left, Depart from Me, you, cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

And then they will answer saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them saying, Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous into eternal life.

Friends, this passage is easily misread.

How can I get to heaven? Basically work at Central Union Mission or Capital Hill Pregnancy Center? Well, that's not what Jesus is teaching here. What we see here is that when Jesus returns, when He returns fully revealed as King, our true loves will be fully revealed too.

Here we see the reality of rewards and punishments. Jesus taught His disciples that the world to come contained them both. His point is not that the righteous earned God's blessings, rather that their love reflected that very gift of God. But that's another sermon. Jesus' point, on the other hand, in telling about this terrible retribution that's coming, is to cause us now to examine our Am I really the King's?

Do I really belong to Him? Do I really love what He loves and what He's called me to love? Jesus is showing the difference here. Remember, these righteous people didn't realize fully what they were doing. They did it because they were His and they will forever enter into His blessed presence.

But the others face a different future. Those who are lost will, it says here in verse 46, go away into eternal punishment. Punishment that lasts as long as God Himself does, as long as His moral opposition to their evil does. How was it Paul described this in Romans 2? There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek.

Friends, hell, according to the Bible, according to Jesus, Jesus is for all unrepentant sinners.

I wonder if you turn away from Jesus' teaching on hell. If you're happy to hear Him teach on anything else, but not this.

Friends, what would become of us without God's kindness?

Why would we not want to be warned about the eternal of our selfishness.

C.S. Lewis once wrote that we must picture hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives in deadly, serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.

Once many years ago now, a man who was a student at one of the universities in town had come to our church. He said he enjoyed it very much. He came to the membership classes. It came time for the membership interview and it came time to sign the Statement of Faith. And as he was signing the Statement of Faith, he said, oh, there is just that one phrase in that last Article 18, I don't agree with that.

That's an endless punishment thing. I don't really think the Bible teaches that. I stopped him at that point and I said, well, our church has always understood that the Bible teaches that very clearly and that's not an unusual a general understanding of our church. We're there with pretty much all historic Christian churches. We adopted this statement of faith when we were founded in 1878 and we've continued to think the Bible teaches that.

So I think you probably want to do a little bit more work on that before you sign this document. You need to understand what the Bible teaches about this. He said he was happy to. I gave him some parts of Scripture and some sermons to go away and read and meditate on. A couple of weeks later I called him just to check in on him to see how he was doing.

We had seen him at church, but we hadn't talked about this. And he said to me, I'm so glad you stopped me from signing that statement of faith. He said, I didn't like the idea of hell, but I'd never really thought about it much. He said, As I meditated on the passages of Scripture you gave me and I read those sermons and thought about it, I realized how important it was to explain to me how good God is and how serious sin is. And he said, When I've come to church the last couple of Sundays, the hymns on the atonement have just come alive for me as I've understood more of what Christ endured on the cross for me.

He said, I'm happy to sign the statement of faith now. I think that's what the Bible clearly teaches. Brothers and sisters, I've had conversations like that again and again over the years. How else would we begin to understand all that Christ has borne for us on the cross and the magnitude of what He has done for us? If we think lightly of the punishment God would give unrepentant sinners, how will we think of the cross and of what Christ has endured for us.

To more fully appreciate God's love, we must carefully consider His promised punishment of our unrepentance and what does it mean to fall under God's good and right curse? One pastor considered the contours of such a cursed existence. He reasoned, God punishes the wicked in hell partly by the remembrance of what is past. That is the mercies and means they once had but are irrevocably lost. Partly of the sense of things present, even of the wrath of God overlaying soul and body.

Partly of the fear of what is to come. I'm sure this is not the least part of the misery of these wretched castaways. Oh, that fearful expectation of fiery indignation. More and more of God's wrath still coming on, thrusting forward one on another. This makes even the devils shudder.

Friends, why would this be part of Jesus' teaching? Why would He include this, this warning of such terrible, endless punishment? Friends, I think, to separate us from our sins, to cause us to turn from sin to Him. You can't undo your sins. Every single person here, myself, those of you who know best, those of you I've never met, all have in common a human nature.

We're made in the image of God. We've been made by God. We've been made with the ability to come to but all of us have sinned against this God and against others made in His image. We've done those things that we've known are wrong, and those sins never fade. They never become unreal before an eternal God.

Those sins exist before Him and cry out for justice. So what will we do? Friends, we can't undo our sins, so we will either We will take it with us to hell, or we will take it to Calvary, where God has a provision for us in Christ. Friend, if you would turn from your sin, if you would repent of it, if you would pray to God for forgiveness for your sins because of what He has done in Christ, who came and took on flesh and lived a perfect life of trust and obedience to His heavenly Father, God raised Him from the dead and accepted that sacrifice He tells us that we can have forgiveness for our very real sins through Christ's sacrifice in the place of all who will believe. Friend, that could be you today.

If you want to know more about what that means, more of why Jesus would have taught us this about hell, because it's true, yes, but because He also is teaching us while we still have time to do something about it. Friend, talk to someone you came with today. Talk to me or one of the others around you. About what it would mean for you to have hope in Christ and a new life, like hundreds of people here have, and like you too can have.

That's what we see God will do with those who are finally cursed because of our sins. But now, what is this endless joy that our statement of faith says the righteous go into? Well, for more on this, let's turn over to Revelation, chapter 21. Revelation, chapter 21.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' and He who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' Also, He said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

And He said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the springs of water of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, altars and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, 'Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.' and he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare, precious jeweled like a jasper clear as crystal. It had a great high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed: On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies four square, its length the same as its width.

And he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, one hundred and forty-four cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel.

The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

And its gates will never be shut by day and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Friends, this chapter begins by John being introduced to the new creation And then in verse 2, John reports to us all of this initial sight of the New Jerusalem. And you notice fundamentally the gracious nature of all this. You look there in chapter 21, verse 2, I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. All that we have now or will have, God gives us. The culmination of history according to the Bible The Bible is no man-made tower of Babel built up, but rather the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

And considering this portion of God's Word, we're called to meditate upon the good gifts that God gives us, what our statement of faith calls the endless joy. What is this endless joy? What composes it? Is it made of? Well, friends, let me point out just a few different aspects of this joy.

In the brief compass of these verses, we see summarized our salvation by God. Look at the end of verse 27 about who will be able to enter the city? Only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. How does the name get written in the Lamb's Book of Life? Well, we can't do it ourselves.

God alone can set our name down on those heavenly pages. Note who owns the book. It's the Lambs. He has created it by His own sacrifice. He has written the names in His own blood.

Only those so chosen by God, only those so redeemed by Christ have their names in that book. Our salvation is by grace. And in this city we see we're delivered from all sorrow. Look again at verse 4, 21 verse 4, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. God will deliver us from all our sorrows.

You wonder, could the wiping away of our tears by God be more pleasurable than the tears themselves were painful?

God here reminds John's readers of the passage earlier in Revelation, back in chapter 7, where we read in verse 15, Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.' Friends, this is a picture of the world finally being put right. God will save and deliver us. He will also give us the long-desired unity with the rest of His people.

In this world there are divisions and separations Christians, even between Christians. And this saddens us and confuses us. But it won't be so there. There our unity will be complete. The universal church will visibly be one.

That's the significance there of verses 12 and 13 and 14, where all the uses of the number 12 are. That's to show the city's completeness and the universality of all God's all will be there together, one city. All the tribes of old together will dwell in this with all the apostles from the new. God's people before and after Christ will dwell together in this immense city. I mean, look at the measurements there in verse 16.

Its hugeness shows the importance of this, its immense scope. Consider how large the number of the redeemed would have to to be if we're going to fill up a city that large. And then, number three, did you notice the gift of work that God has for us? He promises to give us everlasting fellowship with Him in our work. Who's reigning here that we're told of?

Well, God, of course, His throne is mentioned repeatedly. But if you look there in chapter 22, in verse 3, we're told that His servants will worship of Him. And yet in verse 5 we see that we will reign forever and ever. So we will do this with Him forever in this Kingdom where the servants reign, even as reigning kings, we will serve God. That's what He means there in verse 3.

We also find here that He promises us light. He promises the Lord will be our light. Look at chapter 21, verse 23, the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Remember what David said in Psalm 27, the Lord is my light and my salvation. This is what David was talking about ultimately. This is when the Lord will be our light. This is the new day that's coming where the whole earth will be filled with those who love the light and live by the truth of the new heavens and the new earth will be filled with this pervasive light, and that's because the splendor of God fills this new creation. But God promises us yet more, not only salvation, deliverance, and unity, and work, and light, but also glory.

He promises us glory because we will reflect Him. Look in chapter 21 at verse 11.

John described this city from God having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. This radiance is described, it's sparkling, it's dazzling His eyes. And that first phrase, having the glory of God, is the summary of that. The heavenly splendor of God's throne room in Revelation 4 and 5 is now filling the new city. In fact, the whole new creation.

And this is not just a description of the heaven we will live in, but friends, because this is a description of us. All of our splendor and grandeur on that day will merely be a reflection of God's own. Why do you think there is all this specific description of the precious stones and the foundations and the gates and the streets in verses 18 and 19 and 20 and 21? It's because the city's riches, the city's beauty, the city's treasures reflect God's own splendor, reflect God's own glory. We see also that God promises us satisfaction.

You know, God's glory is completed in our reception of Him and our enjoyment of Him as we appreciate Him and appreciate His glory. It's like a beautiful symphony being played It would be fine for a beautiful symphony to be played out in the park, but with no one to hear and enjoy it, it seems like it's a shame, like it's almost wasted. Friends, the creation sees and adores the beauty of God, His goodness, and His amazing providential plan for the salvation of His own. And we rejoice and we know a satisfaction in that. That's what this image of thirst and being satisfied is.

In chapter 22 verse 6, He said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. And do you think we will still be in want, in thirst, in need, desiring something else when we have drunk this drink? God has promised us here in His Word that He will satisfy the thirsty and as if this were not enough, you keep reading in chapter 21 verse 7, the one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

God promises us sonship, adoption. You might expect God to promise to be our Father, but He uses the word, I will be his God. I think He used the word God rather than Father there because fatherhood in our world is only meant to point toward God and what God is like. Our relating to Him as God will completely encompass and surpass our relating to Him as father. Yes, all the good of father and more.

Because He is the one that even the best of fathers only dimly foreshadowed. God promised to David that He would take his as His very own. That was a picture, an illustration of what God would one day do with us. In fact, the whole nation of Israel was an example to us. God called after them through the prophet Jeremiah, How would I set you among my sons and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations?

But if you read the Old Testament, you see God indicted Israel time and again for not following Him, for not obeying Him, for being not the delight He should be. But what Israel was in only the most imperfect and unsatisfying way, what the angels have never been, we find God's Spirit telling us that Jesus is. He is the Son that fully satisfies the Father. In the Psalms, in Hebrews 1, the promise God made to David about his children is applied to Christ. To which of the angels did God ever say, you, are my Son?

Today I have begotten youn. Or again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. The author's point is that no one is comparable to Christ in his unique relationship to God. But Christ's relationship is the closest picture we have we have of how we read that we as Christians now relate to God. Galatians 3:26, For in Jesus Christ you are all sons of God through faith.

Friends, we have been united to Christ by faith. So here in Revelation 21 we read in verse 7, I will be his God, and he will be my son. Referring to all of us who have been united to Christ by faith. So salvation and deliverance and unity and work and light and glory and satisfaction and even this sonship, all of this, not only beginning in this life, but culminating completely and perfectly on that great day to come. Brothers and sisters, this is where our statement of faith ends.

It's where the Bible ends, in chapter 22 of the book of Revelation, pointing further on ahead to what is to come. This is the great truth about what the world to come is like and about our final and fixed state forever. Why do we need to know that? Because we can only live today as we should when we know the truth about tomorrow. Tomorrow.

When we have this great hope to lie as a coal at our cold hearts, we're warmed to be able to trust and even love this God who has made and provided so for us. This is the hope that we have. I don't know what your week looks like with your doctor's appointment, with decisions at work, with concerns about the election or COVID. But I know what goes on beyond this week, and much more certainly this week, with much more long-lasting effects than any of our earthly decisions this week. I know what God has for us in Christ, and that's what gives us the joyful, confident, humble peace that we have even in the most challenging of times.

We're confident about this world, not because of anything in this world, but because of the world to come. Come. Brothers and sisters, that's the hope. That's the hope that we have, that we hold out to youo today, and that we encourage each other, even in this meeting. In that hope, let's go to God's throne together in prayer.

Let's pray.

Lord God, we thank youk that yout have loved us as yous have in Christ. We hear the terror of the warnings of Jesus about dying in our unrepentant sins. And Lord, we pray for gifts of repentance and faith for any here who do not know you. And Lord, we thank you for the joy that we have in being called to know you and to love the Savior more than our sins. Oh God, give us this hope we pray even today.

In Jesus' name, Amen.