May Lord be pleased to help us
as we consider this afternoon words we read in the first epistle
of Peter, chapter four and verse seven. First epistle of Peter,
chapter four and verse seven. But the end of all things is
at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch. unto prayer. But the end of all
things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch
unto prayer. We considered this morning some
thoughts based really around the the Lord's Supper and we
have a reminder there don't we as the Apostle writes to the
Corinthians about that ordinance that it must be kept but he says
there and perhaps we read these words month by month For as often
as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's
death till he come. And I often emphasize that. We do not know, do we, when will
be the last time that we, either personally or collectively, when
will be the last time that we do that. in remembrance of him
there will be a last time that's for sure whether through our
own death or should we live until the Lord comes again. But there
is a reminder. Now we, it's our custom to do
that monthly, but as I said this morning, there's nothing to say
that it has to be done at that frequency, but whatever the frequency
is, we're reminded really that the end of all things is at hand. We are to live conscious of that. When these words came into my
mind for some weeks ago, I don't know what originally prompted
it, but it came that the end of all things is at hand. And
I felt, for a moment, a real spirit of rejoicing. to say that
we're thoroughly miserable and we want everything to end in
that sense but there is a wonderful prospect isn't there for the
believer when this word is finally fulfilled and that angel shall
go forth as we read in the revelation and proclaim that time shall
be no longer. That's a wonderful thought to
the believer and i want to come back to that but we don't know
do we when these things shall be i was struck as i looked into
this yesterday morning how that four of the apostles greatly
taught all of them by the Lord and led by the Holy Spirit, they
all mention what they call the last times. Paul does in many
of the epistles, Peter does as we have it here and in other
places and perhaps particularly in his second epistle, but also
John. and Jude, the writer of the Epistle
of Jude, generally believed to have been one of the Lord's brothers. Be that as it may, they all were
led by the Holy Spirit, it's not just their own opinions,
their own thoughts about it, but they were all led to write
about different aspects of the end of all things, the last times. Now, we can look back and we
can say, well, they wrote that 2,000 years ago and it still
hasn't happened. But again, it's struck by those
words that Peter was inspired to write about that very issue. He says, there shall come in
the last days scoffers. walking after their own lusts
and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. And then he goes on very solemnly
to describe that they are willingly ignorant. Now, you and I may
feel our ignorance of many things, many things that we would like
to know. Perhaps there are many things that we ought to know.
We feel our ignorance, but we're not willing to remain that way. We do desire deeper teaching
and instruction, but those who simply say, well, another 2,000
years has gone, and Peter and Paul and John and Jude, they've
all been proved wrong. No, they haven't. No, they haven't. They didn't know when it would
come, but their warning, all of them, was that the time is
coming. And it would be foolish, even
as we read, to speculate and to say, well, I know when it's
going to happen. This is the date or it's going
to happen within so many years. That's foolishness. Jesus himself
said that nobody knows of that time, save the father. But we all, and it does come
close, doesn't it, we all hear this afternoon, we've all read
that the end of all things is at hand. There's no one who can
go away from this place and say, well, I never had any warning,
I didn't know that such a thing was going to happen. As I say,
We may or we may not live to actually see it, but we know
it's coming. Now, there are two aspects to
the way my thoughts have been led concerning this. The first
is, as Peter sets out for us here, how should we live? This being the case that the
end of all things is at hand, as in fact he writes in the second
epistle, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation? That means the whole manner of
life and godliness. Looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God. What sort of people should we
be? what should be our witness in this life until that day come
or until our life ends whichever is the sooner so that's the first
thought what manner of person should we be but then also to
just consider a little, and of course we cannot be possibly
comprehensive about it, but the joys, the wonderful things that
do await the people of God and why we should be looking for
that day, why we should be, as it were, in our mind, in our
spirit, hastening to that day. It's a good day for the believer. So how should we live our lives? There are those, aren't there,
who make these grand predictions about the end of time and their
followers and so on. They completely change their
whole way of life. They give up employment. They sell their houses. They do all kinds of things.
in that spirit that the end is nigh. Well, that's not the scriptural
way of behaving, is it? We're told really here, aren't
we, how we should live our lives. Be ye therefore, because of this,
because you know that the end of all things is at hand, be
ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. Sober, of course,
doesn't just mean the opposite of being drunk with excess of
alcohol, but it means be serious, be sincere, consider these things
carefully. What does it mean for us? What does it mean for me personally? How must I live my life? very much this is linked to prayer. Watch unto prayer. Watching, waiting and prayer
are three words that the scripture very often joins together, doesn't
it? They're not all the same thing,
but they are very much linked. When we pray, we should be watching
for answers. We should be praying with faith.
We should be expecting answers. We shouldn't be surprised when
our prayers are answered. Sadly, we often are, but that's
because we haven't really prayed with the faith that we should
have had in the first place. But there may be a long time
of watching. Some prayers may be answered
immediately. Some prayers indeed we may find
have already been answered before we, while we were still praying
about them. But we should be looking out
for those things. And waiting, waiting to see that
fulfilment, but also I think we need to be careful with that
word waiting. There are two sorts of waiting,
really. I think it's all too easy for
us to think of waiting in the, forgive my simple illustrations,
but in the sense that we wait for a bus. We might sit in the
bus shelter and we don't really do anything. Time goes by and
we think, well, in 10 minutes time or whatever it is, the bus
will arrive. We're just waiting. We're not
doing anything. But I don't think That's really
what the scripture means by waiting. There's another sort of waiting,
isn't there? When we go to a restaurant, we
have waiters. and waitresses, and they are
there serving. They're looking to see what is
our command, if you will. What does the person wish to
have? They're ready to take our order,
don't they? They come and they say, are you
ready to place your order? And then they will be obedient
to it. They will put it into practice. They will get what
you have asked to have. Now, we read about waiting upon
the Lord, don't we? And I do believe we miss something
in not understanding that a serving God, watching as a good, attentive
waiter will look at the customer and they'll be looking, is this
person, do they want something? Something that's unsatisfactory,
can I do more for them? We should be waiting upon the
Lord in that way. What is my reasonable service?
What can I do? What is the Lord's next command?
Is there something where I've fallen short? I've dissatisfied
the Lord by not being attentive enough. Watching, waiting, praying. Where do we each stand with these
things? Jesus said to those three particular
apostles, Peter, James, and John in the Garden of Gethsemane,
but it's not restricted to that situation. He said, watch and
pray that ye enter not into temptation. How often I wonder, and certainly
I speak to myself as we always should do, but how often do we
really pray that we shouldn't be led into temptation, exposed
to some situation where we are more likely to sin? We should
be striving against those things, shouldn't we? We do so easily
succumb in times of temptation, don't we? The devil is a very
wily adversary, more wise, stronger than we are, for sure. And he
will tempt us, if he possibly can, to do evil. Are we, while our lives continue,
are we really diligent in our prayer to be kept from temptation? or it may be not kept entirely
from that experience but kept from falling in a time of temptation. The Lord himself was greatly
tempted, wasn't he? He had that period of 40 days
and nights in the wilderness. Only three specific temptations
are recorded for us, but I'm quite sure there were many more,
and he had many other temptations beside that period. But he never
fell, did he? He never succumbed to that. What manner of person should
we be then? Well, we don't have the divine
strength and power that Christ had, obviously. But we can pray
for that strength to be given. We can pray that we shall be
kept. And especially I think those
three temptations that are explained to us. They give us a very, very
important weapon, don't they? The word of God. Every one of
those temptations the Lord faced by saying it is written and then
quoting from the Word of God. Interestingly, all three quotations
from the Book of Deuteronomy, that great instructive book as
to how the people should lead their lives. We touched on it
this morning, but there's another reinforcement to that principle. Do we, when we are faced with
these temptations, Do we immediately go back to the word of God and
say it is written. I can't do that because it is
written that thing is forbidden. Or I can't go to that place because
it is written that I should be separate from the world. All these things, they come very
close to us, don't they? Very challenging to us really
if we are exercised about how we should live. It's encouraged
by that hymn very much really on this point, isn't it? That
desire for a closer walk with God. That's what manner of persons
we ought to be. We should be desiring to be closer
to God. If we are faithful in following
the Lord, we won't be in the wrong place, we won't be in the
wrong situation. Our sin is to not follow Him,
to turn off to one side or the other, to stay still, to try
and get ahead as it were, take a shortcut. Watch, watch and
pray that ye enter not into temptation. And so often it may be for many
of us that these things won't be seen by other people. Probably,
I know, I don't want to presume and we can't keep ourselves,
but the likelihood is not that we're suddenly going to, as it
were, go off the rails, as we say, completely. But these are
things that prey on our mind, aren't they? Change our spirit,
change our heart before God. These need to be preyed against
as well. That we don't have those temptations
or we don't fall when we are tempted in that way. How true,
of course, are the words of Jesus. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. So we need to pray. We need to be sober. Our minds
need to be solemnized to this fact that the end of all things
is at hand. But we have a life to live until
that time. And we need to live it rightly
before God. Verses that follow our text,
you have especially, I want to just draw your attention to verse
10 of this chapter. As every man hath received the
gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. What we have received in this
life as I said at the outset we should not go through this
life miserable and always moaning about things and in that sense
desiring the end to come as quickly as possible it's not to be a
life is not to be lived in that way we have many many good things
from God many benefits many mercies as we have received So we should
give. Are we willing to give what we
have to serve others? That's what the word minister
means, doesn't it? Even so, minister the same. Be ready to serve one another
with what we have received. That might be something in a
financial sense, but especially it may be our time. How we use
the time that we've been given. We all are allotted the same
time, aren't we? And we all may be very busy,
but how are we prioritising that time? Are we waiting upon God? Are we serving God? Are we saying,
Lord, how shall I use this day? I've been given another day of
life, of at least sufficient, if not perfect, health and strength
How should I deploy that? What would be the best thing
to serve my God and to serve others? We're told to do good,
especially to the household of faith, but there is a requirement
to do good to all as well. Not for us to receive their praise,
but they may see our good works and glorify our Father, which
is in heaven. To see the spirit that is in
us. It's not our spirit by nature,
but the grace of God that has been given to us, making us willing
to serve. Quite often, I don't mean to
be critical or pick holes in things, but Quite often we refer
to a public minister, a public preacher, as the servant of God
and there's nothing wrong with that. But it does just prompt
that thought in my mind, is that because people think that's the
only servant of God and they've forgotten that they themselves
should be a servant of God. Every believer has a ministry. Certainly, not every believer
is called to the public proclamation of the Word of God. That's very
clear. But every believer has a ministry. What is your ministry? Have you
sought to know before God what role, as it were, you should
be playing? Maybe in the Sunday school, it
may be support to the Church of God, maybe helping others,
visiting others, whatever it might be, but also this, and
I do feel this so much, praying for others. Be sober and watch
unto prayer. We have the record, don't we,
of that woman who came to Jesus and he said it would be noted
while time continued. I haven't got the exact right
words but really while the earth remains it would be recorded
of that woman she hath done what she could. Now that sometimes
might seem to us to be rather faint praise really as if she
she didn't really do very much but the important thing She did
what she could. I have a dear person at home
who has often said very supportively, I don't really understand what
you're going through or what you're dealing with, but I will
pray for you. She does what she can. And I find that, I think of it
very often. Again, there's a challenge to
us there, isn't there? Because she does what she can. Can you and I say, as before
God, we always do everything that we can in the service of
God? Or are there things that we don't
do, we can't be bothered with perhaps,
or we say well I've done enough, I've done some good things today
and I'll rest with an easy conscience now. Is there more that we could
be doing to serve God? We have a life to lead, I want
to come back to the Thessalonians later but one of the main part
of the teaching of the Apostle to that church was they had to
carry on with their daily lives. They had got to that point where
they thought that the end of all things was so imminent that
they had ceased to carry on their ordinary daily lives. Well that
wasn't right and the Apostle has to explain that to them. We do have a an ongoing, a continuing
daily life to lead, but as we have the opportunity, have we
done what we could do to serve God? As every man, and as I say,
this is not about the public ministry, so we can quite legitimately
say every man and every woman hath received the gift from God,
whatever that might be. Even so, minister the same to
another. As good stewards, of the manifold
grace of God. Stewards is an important word
for us as we think about serving God. A steward, really the nature
of being a steward is that they are using the resources that
belong to their Lord. They're not the owner of those
things. They are holding it as it were
on trust. from their lord and master and
they must deploy it in the master's interests. But they're not the
owner of it. Now, that's so true of the Christian
believer, isn't it? Even our life, our health and
our strength, we're not the master of those things. But how are
we using them to serve our master? We read, didn't raise why I particularly
wanted to read that part of Matthew chapter 24. Be ye also ready,
for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh, who
then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler
over his household, to give them meat in due season. Blessed is
that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so
doing. Because we don't know when he's
coming. And the warning is given there very specifically, isn't
there, to any evil servant who thinks, well, the Lord won't
be coming just yet. I've got an opportunity to serve
myself, to abuse others and take what is theirs and use it for
myself and so on. He says the Lord will come when
he's not expecting it. But what a blessing for that
servant who is living the remainder of his life, be that long or
short, in serving his master, in doing his master's will. And
when the Lord cometh, he'll find him doing that, because that's
the spirit that has been given to him. It's sometimes said,
isn't it, that we should live every day as if it was our last
day, and I understand what is meant by that, but of course
if we did know that it was our last day, well then there really
wouldn't be any point in continuing with the ordinary things of daily
life. But we don't know, do we? And
it's because we don't know that this whole manner of life ought
to be ours. It's not something we can put
on for a special time when we know the Lord is coming, because
we don't know that. We should be doing it always,
daily. Shouldn't really, in that sense, shouldn't be any change
in our life, because if we're a faithful and a wise steward
of what God has given us every day, we'll be the same. We'll
be serving Him. We'll be looking to do what is
right, to serve our Lord and to serve especially the whole
church of God. Now, we need much prayer, don't
we? To know what is the right thing
to do and much prayer for the grace. Maybe, I think I said
in prayer that the strength and the courage that we need, it's
not easy. serving God, is it? We need those
things, we need faith, don't we? But pray, watch unto prayer. The Lord is ready to help, to
give us those things that we need, but must come on to this
second aspect, the end of all things. is at hand. What is the prospect then for
the believer? Peter speaks of being now for
a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than of gold that perish, perisheth though it be tried with fire.
might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. He's saying this heaviness, this
period of temptation is for a season. It's not going to go on forever.
The end of that is at hand. Even the trial of our faith will
come to an end. Paul writes, doesn't he, that
now, as in this life, abideth these three, faith, hope, and
charity, meaning, of course, love. And the greatest of these
is charity. Why is that? Well, charity is
the only thing that we shall need when the end of all things
comes. We won't need faith. Faith, for
the believer, will be turned into sight, won't it? hope won't
be needed that anchor of the soul won't be needed because
there will be no more storms there'll be no more trouble there'll
be no more times of temptation these things are coming to an
end that's a lovely thought isn't it for those who may be in great
heaviness because of manifold temptations that literally means
many times Temptation doesn't it lots of temptations may be
coming upon us concurrently at the same time We're struggling
through these there are heaviness to us, but he's coming to an
end Lord Said to John didn't he to
write to one of those churches you shall have tribulation ten
days It's a specific period known to God. And my father often used
to say to us, you can't make it nine, but the devil can't
make it 11. God sets a period. God sets a time for these things
and they will come to an end in the time that God has set.
Please are all passing things. That should be an encouragement,
shouldn't it, to us. It should be a strengthening
to us that these things are limited. They're limited by God. The end, even of those things,
is at hand. We read in the Revelation, don't
we, which gives us a glimpse, I think a comprehensive picture,
but a glimpse of what heaven will be like when it is the end
of all things. And we read there, God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes. What tears do you know
here? Tears of mourning, tears of grief,
natural sorrows and so on, but perhaps tears of mourning over
your own sins. But that's going to come to an
end. God shall wipe away even those
tears. There shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain. Some friends have to endure much pain, don't they? But not
then. The end of that is at hand. For the former things are passed
away. And again, he says, there shall
in no wise enter into heaven anything that defileth, neither
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. but they which
are written in the Lamb's book of life. No sin. Can we really imagine an end
to sin? Jude, in his epistle, says that
Christ is able to present us faultless. I love that word,
but I feel I can't really comprehend it. What would it be like to
be faultless? We know so much, don't we? Probably
not all as much as we should do, but of our own sins and our
failings, and I can't imagine what it is to be faultless. Now
of course that's not in ourselves. That's as we are clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. But can we imagine that? The end of all sin. The end of our own sin. We're
no longer grieving the Spirit of God by our disobedience, by
our failures. The end of that. is at hand. It's a wonderful, a joyous thing
to consider really, isn't it? And this is one of the things
that the Apostle wrote to the Thessalonian Church about, isn't
it? As I've said, they were giving
up on daily life, as it were. But the Apostle says, no, you've
got to walk, continue your life. But he says there, let us watch
and be sober. But the point I wanted to come
to is he describes this end of all things. He says this, 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. And he says this, wherefore comfort
one another with these words. The end of all things to the
wicked. is not going to be a peaceful,
comforting thing, is it? I sometimes thought when we,
maybe in Scotland or somewhere like that, wherever you may have
travelled, where there are mountains and perhaps we go through a mountain
pass. I remember one very vividly we
went through many times on the Isle of Harris, where the roadway
through between the mountains was virtually at sea level. And
you've got mountains towering up either side of the road, I
think about two and a half thousand feet, not obviously absolutely
sheer, but quite steep. And you look at those and you
fear, don't you, in case there should be a landslide or something.
And you think, how terrifying would it be if I started to see
the rocks falling down that slow? But we read that at the end of
all times, the wicked will be calling on the rocks and the
mountains to fall on them. That will be a preferable outcome
to them than having to face God. Well, they're not going to escape
facing God, but it gives us something of the magnitude of what a terrible
day that is for the unbeliever. But the apostle writing to the
church at Thessalonian, Thessalonica, he says, comfort one another
with these words. This is a good thing for you,
that the end of all things is at hand. And now is our salvation
quite nearer than when we first believed. It's something to look
forward to, something to eagerly anticipate. Do we have such a
spirit? I think the more that we enter
into what it will be like when all these pain, sorrow, sighing,
crying, sin, temptation, when all of those things are ended.
What a wonderful time it will be. What a comfort it is to think,
for the believer to think, that time is coming. That is a real
prospect. It is going to happen. We don't
know when. We can't speculate when. But
it is a reality. The end of all things is at hand,
and we should be looking forward to that. Now, at the very end
of the Word of God, we read, And then we have this, Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus, can
we as it were, put our amen personally
to that. Amen means let it be so. I am, as it were, completely
in agreement with that. I want that to be the case. So when the Lord says, I come
quickly, can you and I say amen? Lord, do come. Do come quickly. Put an end to all these things
that are so distressing to us here below. fulfil those glories
that we anticipate in heaven. Well, may the Lord bless us each
with such a spirit and while our days are lengthened here
below to live them in the right way as the opportunity is given,
as the gift, the ability is given to serve God and to serve one
another. But the end of all things is
at hand. Be ye therefore sober, and watch
unto prayer. Our closing hymn for this service
is hymn number 20 from Hymns of Worship. A glory to thee,
my God, this night, for all the blessings of the light. Keep
me, O keep me, King of Kings, beneath thine own almighty wings.
Hymn number 20 from Hymns of Worship to the tune 422. So, O give thee, Lord, for thy dear
son Thee of that joy this day have done Teach me to live that I may tread
the grave as little as my bed. Teach me to die that so I may
rise glorious at the judgment day. Oh, may my soul only repose and
may sweet sleep align its course to serve my God when I am weak. If in the night I No ill dreams disturb my peace. No clouds of darkness before
me. Praise God for me. Praise thou the sun and morning
glow. Gracious God, do fulfil in our
lives that which we have sung. Lord, to have that vigour to
serve thee more and more and better as thou dost give the
opportunity, Lord, to be willing, even as we have received, so
freely to give. Lord, that we may not dredge
that time of, whether it is our death or the time when thou art
come again, the second time upon this earth. May it be an eager
anticipation in our heart, even so, Lord come. May the love of God, the Father,
the grace of Christ, the Son, the fellowship and communion
of the Holy Spirit be with us each. Amen.