I'd like to speak to you this
morning on this subject. The end of all things is at hand. I've titled my message, End of
Times. No, I'm not going to try to predict
for you of when the end of the world is. I'll leave that for
other tools. Our Lord says it will come as
a thief in the night. And He gives just enough information
in His Word for fools to go about trying to predict that very time.
End of times. The end of all things is at hand. We're going to be reading from
1 Peter 4, verses 7-13. And while you find it in your
Bibles, let me set the table for you as it would be. For some
reason, people do not like to think nor do they like to talk
about death or dying. But yet we're reminded of it
every day, aren't we? Our dear brother Don Fortner
passed away just a little over a week ago. They laid his body
in the ground a week ago yesterday. If you have not tuned in, to
hear the message that Brother Bruce Crabtree brought at the
funeral services. I'll find it for you if you need
help finding it. Come over to my house and watch
it on the big screen if you'd like, but that's a message that
I think every child of God needs to hear. He preached a good message,
and there were several parts of it, but the one thing that
stood out to me the most is that God Almighty, the Lord Jesus
Christ, experience the grave for His people. We're no longer needed to be
afraid of it. To be absent from this flesh
for a child of God is to be in the presence of our Savior. That's
His word, not mine. It's not an interpretation of
mine. It's not something that I think, I think just believes
it. No, it's God's word. That's His promise to His people.
When we leave this flesh to be buried in the ground, or whatever
it is we want to dispose of it, it will return to dust. Ashes
to ashes, dust to dust. But the Spirit will be in heaven
with the Lord Jesus instantly. What did he say to the people
on the cross? He said, today, today you will
be with me in paradise. People don't like to be reminded.
that we are a dying people, yet the Lord reminds us every day. Many around us die from this,
die from that. We are a dying people. A man
by the name of Richard Baxter once said this, he said, I preach
as one who may never preach again. I'm preaching as a dying man
to dying men. People will joke about death, they'll joke about heaven, and
they'll even joke about hell. We go out and even buy insurance
to provide for our families in the event that we might die.
If something happens to us, we want our wife and our children
to be provided for. People pause and they pay tribute
to those who have died. But most don't want to talk about
dying themselves. They don't want to talk about
it. They don't want to even be reminded of it, do they? If you
start preaching about death or talking about death or discussing
death, they always say, well, let's not talk about that. Good
things. Jesus loves everybody. Let's
talk about the good part the world loves. And I want to talk about the
curse that is upon all that we see. Folks, when Adam died, God
said, Cursed is the ground that you shall walk on. He didn't just curse mankind.
Because of sin, everything he created was cursed. My friends, brothers, sisters,
death is real. Death is not uncommon. It's not
something that just happens to others. It's going to happen
to each and every one of us. I ask you this this morning. Are you ready for it? I'm going to go out this afternoon,
I'm going to get on a motorcycle and I'm going to ride with my
dear brother and his wife. Some people think I'm flat out crazy.
Why would you get on that and go riding especially through
the mountains? Deer can jump out in front of you. Yes, they
can. Yes, they can. Just as easily as I could die
of a heart attack standing right here before you now. Or walking to the house after
services. Or going home from here. Death
will come to each and every one of us. It's not unusual. In fact, it
is the one thing. Think about this. Think about
this for a moment. Death is the one thing that each
and every one of us We all have an exact common. We're all different in many different
ways. We think differently. We do different
things. We do different things better
than one person may do this better, another person may do this better.
We all come from different parts. But you know, every single man
who has walked this entire earth has one thing in common with
John Reeves. We're all going to die. Why would someone be
so shocked? When someone dies, someone would
say, hey, did you hear so-and-so died? Oh, yeah, I heard about
that. Yeah. You see, our lives are
nothing more than just a tale. There's going to come a day,
Mike Gialotti, when people are going to say, hey, did you know
that guy Mike Gialotti? Oh, yeah, I knew him. What a
great guy he was. Or they could say something else,
right? What do you think? could say something else about
Egypt. Why are people so shocked? Everybody dies. Why is it that
we avoid this very subject? The Bible tells us that we will
die. In Genesis chapter 5, there is a list of men starting with
Adam and others such as Enoch, Seth, and more. In that chapter
5 of Genesis, it tells us about all of our forefathers. These
very men who were at the beginning of time. And after each name,
it tells something that is common to this island. It says these
three words. Adam lived so many years, and
then he died. Seth lived so many years, and
then he died. It says the same thing about
all of them. They live so long, and then they die. You see what
I'm talking about when it comes to being a tale? It's a common law of all men.
The Bible tells us that we all will die. In 2 Samuel 14 it says
this, we must die. We are like water spilt on the
ground which cannot be gathered up again. Job said this in chapter
7 of Job, it says, is there not an appointed time to man on the
earth? I shall soon sleep in the dust,
he said. David wrote it this way in this
89th Psalm. Listen to this, he says, what
man is he that liveth and shall not die? Shall he deliver his
soul from the grave? And then we read this in Hebrews. It is appointed unto men once
to die. The instrument of death is already
prepared. God Almighty has already set
everything purposed. Everything. Well, John, why should
we worry about it? I mean, why should I make a decision
to go do this? If God's already purposed this,
it's going to happen anyway, right? So I might as well just
go jump off the bridge over there. What foolishness. But I tell you this, those who
jump off the bridge, those who are foolish enough to do that,
the Golden Gate or any other bridge that might take their
lives, that was purposed by God too. Our Lord says that all things
And he either means what he says, all things are for the good of
them who love God, to those who are called, or it doesn't mean
anything at all. And we're wasting our time reading any of this,
aren't we? All things. Everything that is, will be,
is purposed by God. Everything that has happened
so far in time has happened so that we would be sitting here
this very day, hearing this message this very day. Not only does the Bible tell
us that we shall all die, but our bodies remind us that we
are dying. Some of us wear glasses. Some of us need help in hearing. Some of us, our strength is fading. I'm so blessed this morning that
my son and my grandson are here today. You want to talk about
strength fading? I'm looking at the third generation
here, and that boy's strong. Way stronger than his grandpa.
Even stronger than his dad, although he's not going to be able to
prove it just quite yet. It wasn't long before my son proved that
he was stronger than me. Many of you understand exactly
what I'm saying, don't you? Our bodies show us. The day of death is coming for
each and every one of us. We're not always going to live
on this earth. We're marching toward the grave. Every time
our heart beats, is one beat nearer to death. That's what
our body is telling us. The Bible tells us that our body... Our body tells us that and our
body... Let me get this right again. The Bible tells us that
and our body tells us it by experiencing it. How many of us here today
have a mother, a dad, a brother, a sister, or maybe even a child
who has died? How many of us here today? have
a friend that died. Folks, I can't say anything new
on this subject, and I do realize that. My intent here is to get
people interested in knowing who Christ is. Making the statement
that I have just made about death was so that you might think that
the Lord might impress upon your heart the importance of knowing
who the Lord Jesus Christ is. I want to get your interest. If you don't believe, I pray
the Lord will give you the gift of faith in knowing who the Lord
Jesus Christ is. He's God Almighty in the flesh.
God became man. He set His glory aside for just
a moment A twinkling of an eye, you might say, when it comes
to time that you and I know. And He became flesh. Perfect God. Holy God walked
this earth perfectly and holy. And even though He was tempted
as you and I are, He knew no sin. Yet He was made sin, wasn't
He? Isn't that what scripture says?
Why would God be made sin? How can we get our mind around
that? How can a holy God be made sin? I don't know. And I'm not going
to try to explain it to you, but I know that that's what God's
Word says. One of our friends on Facebook put out a statement
about truth this morning. I can't remember exactly what
it was, but I couldn't help but comment. The only place to find
real truth is right here. The Word of God. Everything else we hear in the
world, I'm not saying everything is a lie. That's not what I'm
saying at all. I'm just saying it's skewered
by man's lying. So we don't know what to trust
when it comes from men. But I can tell you this, you
can trust what comes from God. I want to bring your interest
this morning, that when you go through that door marked death,
you would know the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior. The
only way to go to heaven. And it's not by you coming to
Him, it's by Him coming to you. It's not by something you can
do to bring yourself to Him, to merit yourself to Him, to
make yourself worthy to Him. It's what He has done for us,
for His people. Great is thy faithfulness. What was the Lord faithful in?
God the Father gave God the Son of people. And when He gave those
people to His Son before the world began, the Son said, I'll
do it. I'll go to the cross. I'm in
complete accord with what the Father wants. What the Father's
will is. I will do it. And he did. And
he went to that cross and he shed his perfect holy blood for
the sins of his people. Of his chosen. My elect, as he
calls us. Those who are predestinated to
be conformed to the image of Christ. Those of you who have ears, I'm
going to deal with this subject as best as the Lord will lead
you. This could be the last time I ever deal with it. For I do
not know when the Lord may take me home. I just don't know what the Lord
has in store for me next. Now I want us to look at 1 Peter
chapter 4 verse 7, and then let me point out some things that
the Apostle Peter has to say about our attitude, about our
conduct, about our thoughts, about our behavior in the light
of death, and in the light of our approaching death. For we
all shall soon die. Look at 1 Peter chapter 4 verse
7 with me. But the end of all things is
at hand. That's God's Word. That's what
we're talking about right there. We're not talking about the end
of the world. There is a time when the Lord Jesus will return. There is a time when He will
return in His physical body and everything will be burned up.
But that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about
the end of time is near for each and every one of us. We're not
talking about the end of the universe. We're talking about
your end and my end. You see, the end is near. It's
much nearer than it was yesterday. It's nearer than when I began
this very message, as a matter of fact. Life is but a vapor,
folks. Look at all the thousands of
years that have gone on since the Lord walked this earth. And
we guess at how many thousands of years went on before that,
between Adam and the day the Lord walked this earth. James, he puts it this way, he
says, what is your life? It is neither the maker. Job
said it this way, he says, what is your life? It is a shadow.
It quickly vanishes away. What is your life? It's a flower. It grows up, spreads open, and
then it withers and dies. It's blooming today, withering
tomorrow, and gone. Withering the next day, and gone
the next. What is my life? Here's an interesting
comparison to that. Psalms 90 verse 9 says this,
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath, We spend our years
as a tale that is told. It's a tale that's told. Do you remember old so-and-so?
Oh yeah, I remember him. What a nice guy. We might say that for two, three,
or maybe even five years, but eventually even that becomes
a withered flower. After Peter writes, the end is
near, the end of all things is at hand, he gives us five or
six things to consider knowing that we all will face death. He says, first of all, be ye
therefore sober. Serious is what that means. It
means be ye therefore serious about this matter and call on
God. Watch and prefer. The end is
near, so let's be serious about it. Let's quit joking about it. Let's quit acting foolish about
it. Let's get serious about this matter and call on God. It's
not a game. It's not something to joke about
or to take lightly, for we are all dying. Life will soon be
over for each and every one of us. is staring us right in the face. Eternity is near. We are all
going out to meet a holy God. The end is near, so he says,
be serious about it and call on God. We're not talking about
formalities. You say, well, I pray. I pray. The guy in the foxhole prays. Every time something happens
to us in this life, it scares us. This virus. Folks, I know
people that are just scared out of their wits. Who think that
just by not wearing a mask, we're going to kill somebody. And that could be true. But they're
walking around scared like they're the ones that are causing it.
I remember a young man, one of my customers, he was so afraid
that he was going to be a murderer. We're not talking about the formality
of prayer. No, we're talking about, and we're not talking
about occasionally acknowledging that there is a God. We're not
talking about just going to church on a Sunday. We're just not talking
about religious sidelines. We're talking about calling on
God. The end is near. The end is near
at hand. Therefore, be serious and call
on God. Call on God for mercy. Lord,
have mercy on me, a sinner deserving your wrath. That's not something we do just
once and then we go to church on Sundays for the rest of our
lives. It's something we do every day. I need my Lord's mercy every
moment of every day. I call on my Lord for mercy every
moment because John is still a sinner in the flesh. And the
flesh wore it with my spirit. And until I leave this world,
until the Lord takes me home, I will have to deal with that
very thing that sin is in me. And the only way I know how to
deal with that is cry out, Lord, have mercy on me now. Oh God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. The publican did this in the
temple. You recall the story, there were two men, one who sat
over there in the front row, all dressed in whatever Sunday
clothes that he had, and he swore, thank you Lord, thank you, that
I'm not like that guy over there. And then the one over there was
on his knees and his filth and his dirt. Lord, have mercy on
me. I'm asking you folks, have you called
on him like Bartimaeus did? You know the story of Bartimaeus,
the blind man? He had heard. He had heard that the Lord Jesus
Christ was coming through. Lord, have mercy on me! The Lord Jesus Christ is coming
through. Quit making so much noise. Lord, have mercy on me. Jesus, thou Son of David, have
mercy on me. And what did the Lord do? He
did exactly what He said when He said, And those that come
to Me, I shall in no wise cast out. He stopped. He stood still
is what Scripture says. And He had mercy on that blind
man. What about the thief on the cross?
We talked about this a little bit ago. This very thief, he
was facing death at the very moment. He was a man at the end
of his rope. What would it be if he had not
called upon God at that moment? What if he had not seriously
faced his situation? What if he had said, well, I'm
a sinner and I'm getting what I deserve. And then he said to
the other saints, don't you fear God seeing that we are in the
same condemnation and that we indeed justly are getting what
we deserve? This man, this one who was just
between us, this man has done nothing amiss. And then he turns
to that man on the middle of the cross and he says, Lord,
he cries unto God, Lord, remember me. When you come into your kingdom,
that's what calling on God is. Lord, have mercy on me. May God
give us ears to hear. This is not an experience that
anyone else can share with you. Listen, hear what I have to say. We don't die in groups. We don't die in assemblies. Folks, we die alone. We make God alone. Every man shall give an account
of himself to God is what it says in scriptures. I can't share
this experience with you. And no one else can share this
experience with you, but the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious. Be sober. And call on God. Since you're
going to die alone and meet God alone, and since you're going
to enter into judgment alone, wouldn't it be wise? Wouldn't
it be wise for you to get out of these large assemblies? Quit
walking the aisles. Quit trying to do it for yourself.
Quit carrying on and making professions. Wouldn't it be wise for you to
quit praying around all of these benches and having folks around
you? You're going to die alone, and
you're going to meet God alone, crying to Him alone. You're going
to need to give an account of yourself to God alone, and as
if you were the only son of Adam that ever walked this earth.
When they pull the shades, and the doctor looks at his watch,
and he turns to the family, and he shakes his head, You're going
to be alone as you have ever been. You're going to meet God
alone. Peter, he says here, let's be
serious. Call on God. In other words,
get alone with Him. Christ said it this way. He says,
enter into your closet and shut the door and settle this matter. We may say that we have made
a profession. Well, that's just part of the problem. Quit making
professions and get alone with God. Let's look at verse 8. And above all things have fervent
charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude
of sins. Peter is telling us that the
end of all things is at hand. Be sober, serious, and call upon
God. And let's have permanent love
among ourselves. God is love, right? That's what
the world wants to hear about. Well, here we go. There's some
death. Here's what the truth of death is. Now, here's the
truth of love. For God is love. Let us love
one another for the love of God is... I'm going to read that
again. Let us love one another for love
is of God. You see, that is what godliness
is. Love is godliness. Scripture tells us, everyone
that loveth is born of God, and knows God, and he that loveth
not, he that knoweth not God, for God is love. Now I wonder why Peter is talking
about death and then meeting God, and then he turns around
and he says to us, the end of heaven is near, be serious and
call upon God, and then the very next thing he says is, have fervent,
genuine, sincere love among yourselves. Because to know God is to love.
You see, if you're going to call upon God, the true and living
God, you've got to know who He is, and He is love. You know,
what do you mean, John? I love everybody. No, you don't. You can't. You try. We all try to a certain degree,
some less than others. But you don't love everybody.
God loves a people chosen unto himself before the world was.
And out of that love, He acted. He saved them from their sins. That's love. Oh, how many times
have we heard our brother Don Fortner stand in the pew and
look at that beautiful woman sitting there and try to explain
to us just like this, I have loved
you for 43 years. But I don't love you as I would
love to love you. I wish I did. I try, as you do me. I'd like to think that I would
lay down my life for her, for my children, for my grandchildren,
But I don't know that I could until that time comes upon you. Our Lord didn't hesitate one
bit to lay down his life for those that he loved. And to think that God laid down
his life for everybody and it didn't save them is an abomination. To proclaim that God shed his
blood for a people that would go to hell is an outright abomination. What kind of a God is that? The
God of scriptures did not fail at anything. He succeeded. If he purposed it, it shall come
to pass. Is that what the Word says? You
want to call upon God? You want to go to that closet
in your dark space and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ? You've
got to know who He is. And He's not some willy-nilly
God who's waiting for you to do something. He's already done
it all. We're saved in Him. Set your
works aside and look at Jesus. and be saved. All those that cometh to me I
shall in no wise cast out. It doesn't matter what you've
done. Christ has the power to save you, save
you from whatever it was. All the law of God Thou shalt
not do this. Thou shalt not do that. Thou
shalt be this. Thou shalt do this. Only do it this day. Only do
it that day. All the law of God is fulfilled
in one word. Love. Isn't that what they asked
our Lord? Didn't they say, what's the greatest
law? What was our Lord's words to
them? Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.
By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you love
one another. This is the mark. It's the evidence. Loving one another is not what
saves us. Christ saved us because of His
love. But if Christ loved you enough
to lay down His life for you, should we not love one another
also? If Christ was willing to forgive
you to lay down His life to become sin for you, should we not be
willing to forgive those who sin against us? It's the mark. It's the evidence. Peter mentions fervent love.
He says, above all things have fervent love above yourselves.
What is fervent love? It means genuine. It means truly genuine. It means it is not to make believe. It is a genuine and not a hypocritical. It's genuine and sincere. It
is not love in word only. It is in heart. It is a love of the heart. It's
genuine and sincere for Jesus Christ and for others. How could
we not love others if we would but remember the love of God
to us? Why would it be difficult for
me to demonstrate that love? If I would but remember the grace
of God to me, a sinner, why would it be difficult for me to show
grace to others? If I would but remember the mercy
of God to me, then why would it be difficult for me to show
that love and grace and mercy to others? We have to ask ourselves this
question. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. Folks, I urge you, have fervent
love. Have sincere love. This is evidence
that you have called on God and that you have been heard. For
love covereth a multitude of sins, is what God says. We think
about that for just a moment. Have you ever had someone sin
against you? Maybe against one of your loved
ones? I remember a man sharing, and
I'm not going to use names, but he shared with me about a very,
very close friend who tried to molest his daughter. And I thought to myself, what
if somebody had done that to mine? I got to be honest with
you. Or at the very least, making
them feel like they never wanted to be born. Yet
God gave this man the ability, not to forget, but to
turn justice over to the one who gives justice, and that's
the Lord Jesus. I don't know that I could do
that. No more than I could know that I could give my son on the
altar as Abraham did. What faith those men had. Have you called upon God? What does it mean when it says
it covers a multitude of sins? It means true love overlooks
the infirmities of others. It disregards their weaknesses
and their failures. It forgives. That is how it covers
the multitudes of sins. Love concealeth a matter, is
what Scripture, how Scripture puts it. This is the love that
he's talking about here. The end is near, and the end
of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious, be sober,
call upon God, and above all things, have a fervent, genuine,
sincere love among yourselves. Now let's look at the third statement
in verse 9, shall we? And it says next, use hospitality
one to another without grudging. What he's saying here is this,
to practice hospitality and generosity. Reach out to people. Reach a
helping hand to people. I'm going to tell you something.
You know the best way you can help anybody? Tell them about Jesus. Tell them
about your Savior. You want to help the apostles? The better came to them. He said,
give us something. We've got no money. But we've
got something way, way better than money. We have salvation
through Jesus Christ our Lord. And if you've got that, you don't
need anything else. If you've got that, you can get
by with everything else that we have in the world. It really
doesn't matter. This world is not our home. We're
just passing through. Our treasures are laid out somewhere
beyond the blue. To be in heaven is to be in the
presence of everything. Christ is everything. Not only is love an evidence
of regeneration and a mark of grace, but it's also of generosity. I don't only mean towards your
family. I'm not talking about just being
generous to those that are your family, but to friends, to neighbors. Be generous. You see, we are
stewards of God. What we have, God gave us, right? What have I that God did not
give to me? A man can receive nothing, the
scripture says, except it be given him from above. When Pilate
said to the Lord Jesus Christ that day at crucifixion, do you
not know who you're talking to sitting here? And the Lord looked,
or I don't know if he looked, but he said, you wouldn't have
power over anything if it wasn't something my father had given
you. Pharaoh was raised up to the
power of this world that he had by the power of the Almighty. What have we got that we have
not received? We are stewards of God's property.
None of us really own anything. God said the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. He said the cattle on a thousand
hills are mine. Gold and silver that haven't
been mined belongs to me. Everything belongs to Him. What
we have, He has loaned us. You may or may not like Rush
Limbaugh. That's fine. I'm not trying to
make any case for liking him or disliking him. But he does
say something that I like hearing. That is, he says, on loan from
God. Everything we have is on loan
from God. And He's entrusted it to us with
the care and stewardship of these things. We are to be generous
and hospitable and giving. Not out of duty. Not because
we think we have to. Not because we think that this
is what will save us. Or this will be evidence that
we are saved. Don't ever give to the plate
because you think you have to. If God has not reached into your
heart and given you a desire a desire to give, then go give
because it's just an abomination other than that. But if she's reached into your
heart and given you a desire to be generous, you shall be.
It's not a duty, it's not a responsibility. We do not do it grudgingly, but
of a willing spirit and a thankful heart, give to hospitality. You see, selfishness is not grace. Greed is not grace. Selfishness
and greed are going to come home to people in the day of judgment.
But people who hoard gold and silver and material possessions,
and they keep it all up for themselves, and he said, the rust of your
gold will rise up in judgment against you. What that means
is that when you go and stand before God, God's going to put
all of your treasure right there in front of you and say, here's
your treasure. This is your treasure, John.
Or is he going to say, now faithful servants, this is the treasure, not John,
but Christ, God Almighty, sitting on his throne. Are your treasures
laid up in heaven today? Folks, Call upon the Lord. The only salvation for a hell
deserving sinner is Jesus Christ. Death is around the corner for
all of us. Get to it. Get to that client
and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. for whosoever
believeth in him shall have everlasting life.