I thought we did good on that.
I'm a little prejudiced though. Let's open our scriptures tonight
to 1 Peter chapter 4. The title of the message this
evening is The End of All Things. 1 Peter chapter 4 beginning with
verse 7 and looking down through verse number 11. But the end of all things is
at hand. Be you therefore sober and watch
unto prayer. And above all things have fervent
charity among yourselves, for charity, that is love of course,
Love shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one
to another without grudging. As every man hath received the
gift, so minister the same one to another as good stewards of
the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability which God giveth. that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. We see that the Apostle
Peter continues in these verses with exhortations to believers,
to God's children. And what I would like for us
to do tonight as we look at these few verses, I want us to look
briefly at his exhortations, which they all begin, or which
begin with a statement. And then we'll come back and
look at the statement. What is the statement? The end
of all things is at hand. Therefore, The end of all things
is at hand. That's the statement. Therefore,
now let's look at his exhortations. There are several here. First,
be sober. The exhortation here is to be
temperate, to be moderate in all things. And this includes,
of course, eating and drinking, but not only that. But I would
remind us that the Apostle Paul said, whether therefore you eat
or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. It's interesting that the Bible
translation, which is called the Latin Vulgate, this was one
of the first translations of the scriptures. I believe it
was made by Jerome. It was the translation of the
scriptures into Latin. And instead of the word sober,
they have the word prudent, prudent, be prudent. What does that mean,
prudent? We don't use that word that often,
but it means to be wise. It's not only having knowledge,
but how to use the knowledge that we have. Wisdom may be a
good word to describe or define prudent as well. And it especially
warns against self-conceit. Self-conceit. You know, we get
to a place sometimes that we think, well, that could never
happen to me. Or I would never do that. My children would never
do that. You know, self-conceit. Be sober. Be sober. And I think of Paul's exhortation
when he said, Wherefore, let him that thinketh, he standeth.
Take heed. Take heed. I assume every one
of us in this building tonight, every believer, everyone who
confesses Christ as our Lord and Savior, we believe that we
are standing. Don't we? We just assume we're
standing. Take heed. Be sober. Be wise. He that thinketh, he
standeth. Let him that thinketh, he standeth.
Take heed. Why? Because, as I've said before,
the fall of any other believer could be you, could be me. I
mean, if we're standing in our own strength, that's not Christianity. That's not Christianity. Christ
is our strength. We're in a struggle. We're in
a battle. God's children are. Every day,
a spiritual battle with the forces of evil. We wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against powers, against principalities,
against rulers in high places. We're in a battle. As we know
in ourselves, there's always that battle that's going on.
Be moderate, be moderate. The second exhortation is here
again in verse seven, watch unto prayer. Watch unto prayer. Watch, I looked
at this and I thought, now, what does that mean, watch unto prayer?
Our Lord told his disciples, didn't he, in the garden when
he was praying, he said, what, could you not watch with me one
hour? Could you not watch with me one
hour? What does it mean to watch under prayer? Well, first of
all, watch over your praying. Watch over your praying. Our
Lord in the Sermon on the Mount warned against praying using
vain repetitions. Watch over your praying. Don't let prayer just become
a habit. You know, we say our prayers.
I don't like to use that terminology at all. Say a prayer. No, let's pray. Let's don't say
a prayer. Let's pray. You know, the Church
of England, that was a big battle in the church for years over
the prayer book, the common prayer book. They didn't think the,
I guess, uneducated people were wise enough or saved enough to
pray extemporary. So they wrote out their prayers
to read. No, watch under prayer. Watch
over our praying. Make sure it doesn't become just
merely habit and that we do not fall into the the tramp of using
vain repetitions. Our Lord said, they thank, the
heathen thank for their much speaking that they shall be heard. And make sure, watch unto prayer,
make sure that your heart is engaged. I'm speaking to myself. Make sure that our heart is engaged
and not just our mouth is moving. And then watch for opportunities
to pray. You know, when you begin family
prayer, when you, as a husband, as a father, as a head of the
household, or as a mother, as you have prayer in the home,
Satan's going to attack you, let me tell you that, right now.
Everything in the world's gonna come up to hinder you, to keep
you from practicing family prayer. And yet how important it is for
children to be raised in a home where they realize that prayer
is important. My parents, they pray. They believe
that God is real, that God hears. And not only God hears, but God
answers our prayers. Yes, watch unto prayer. Family
prayer, private prayer, that is in the closet. And then public
prayer. I usually have never called on
anyone to pray that I haven't in public. Now I have done this
to some of our younger believers. But usually I ask the person,
would it be all right if I call upon you to pray? And most believers find praying
in public very difficult. Very difficult. I still remember asking a man
in Sochiel, Yucatan, Mexico. His name was Pedro. And of course,
we were meeting in a little old house there, and he was about
as close to me as that amplifier is. And I said, Pedro, do you
believe you could lead us in prayer? Never had prayed before.
And he looked at me, and he shook his head. And he began like this,
Father, Father, forgive me for what I'm about to say. And I
thought, that's the best prayer I've ever heard. Forgive me for
what I'm about to say. You know, the Holy Spirit helps
our infirmities. For we don't know what we should
pray for as we ought, the Apostle Paul said. And I believe that
believers, we feel our infirmity as much When we go to prayer,
as in anything else that we do, watch unto prayer. Third, have
fervent love among yourselves. The exhortation is for fervent
love, not just love, but fervent love or charity among believers. That's what he says, yourself.
Notice that in verse eight. And above all things, have fervent
charity, now notice, among yourselves. Well, is Peter saying we should
just practice love, have fervent love for other believers among
yourselves and not love other people? Well, we know that's
not true. Now that's what the Pharisees
were teaching when the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world.
Remember, he said, you have heard it hath been said unto you, love
your neighbors and hate your enemies. That's what they had
been taught. But I say unto you, the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking, I say unto you, love your enemies.
Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and
pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. So we know that Peter doesn't
mean when he says yourselves that fervent love is only to
be displayed and practiced toward other believers, but it is natural. I think it is natural. If there's
any place where there should be love, it should be in a family. A family unit, a husband loves
his wife even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for
it. The wife shows her love by her respect and obedience to
her husband, and they love their children. If there's any place
where there should be fervent love, it's in a family, and this
is just the family of God here. It's not that we're just to love
one another in the family of God, but as our Lord said, love
even your enemies. And then Peter adds, love will
cover a multitude of sins. Now, you know, false religion,
the word charity. First of all, false religion
does not recognize or does not acknowledge that that word charity
means love. That's the way it should have
been translated, love. And so most people think charity
is giving something. And in countries where you have
a main so-called church, you'll see around the building, on the
sides of the street, or in the front, in the entrance, people
sitting there begging. and people give unto them. They
practice charity and they believe charity shall cover a multitude
of sins. No, no. That's not what Peter
is saying at all. There's only one thing that will
cover sin. And it's not anybody's money.
It's not anybody's work. It's the blood of Jesus Christ.
And thank God for that blood which does cleanse Us from all
sin, the apostle John tells us. Know what he means here. It's
obvious, isn't it, to us? When you love someone, then you
see them fall or make a mistake or sin. You're not going to get
on the telephone and call everybody you know and tell them, did you
know what so-and-so did? No, love, because out of love
for that person, you'll do everything you can to cover that, to hide
that. You don't want that to be exposed.
If God exposes it in time, that's His business, but not our business.
To love coverth a multitude of sin. We want people to thank
the very best of those that we love, don't we? And that's only
natural. We want people to believe the
very best of those that we love. Then we're not going to be running
around critic, criticizing them and exposing their faults no
more than we would want anyone to do that to us. And also it means that as believers,
love will cover a multitude of sins. Someone offends you. Well, We're not going to take that
offense. I've been surprised, really, over the years. I guess
I shouldn't be, but over the years, and I'm thankful I'm not
speaking about our congregation. But I've heard some things and
been involved in some congregations where people get offended over
the least little thing. You know, someone said, some
of you, you sat in the same pew every Sunday. Every service,
you sat in the same pew. And you come in one Sunday and
someone's sitting in your place. And you get offended. And I've
actually, listen, I've actually known some people to say, that's
our place there. Would you mind moving? Love covereth
a multitude of sins, right? I mean, you try to not take offense
and not give offense and not take offense, not be guilty of
broadcasting the faults of those that you love. Those that we love, we will forgive,
and we're not going to be bringing up their sins. Fervent love will
also cause us to be hospitable. That's what he says next. Use
hospitality one to another without grudging. Be thankful if you're
able to help someone and do it in the right spirit, out of love. Don't be grudging the fact that,
well, I guess it's my Christian duty. I've got to help them,
you know. I'm a preacher. No. Fervent love. Fervent love. Do it out of love. Use hospitality. And then the fourth thing, he
says, and I think these are my words, be good stewards of God's
gifts. Verses 10 and 11. As every man
hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another. Now, let me read on. As good stewards of the manifold
grace of God, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles
of God. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. Be good stewards of God's
grace, God's gifts. John Gill made this remark on
this verse. And I remember reading a book,
I can't remember now which pastor it was who wrote this book, but
the title of the book was Mercies of a Covenant God. Mercies of
a Covenant God. And he was like a lot of Baptist
preachers in England at that time. They prayed that prayer,
Lord, you keep him humble, we'll keep him poor. And he went to a man that was
a wealthy man, a merchant man, and he asked him if he could
borrow a certain amount of money and he would pay it back. But
the man said, well, he told him why he wanted to borrow the money.
He said, I want to buy a set of John Gil's commentaries. And
the wealthy man said, no, I won't loan you the money. And he said, why? Why wouldn't
you do that for me? Because I don't want to hear
what John Gil had to say. I want to hear what you have
to say. I forget who that pastor was. But I thought, we quote
John Gil around here quite often. But I can't think of anyone better
to quote. If you've ever read any of his
writings or his comments on the scripture, you know what I mean.
God blessed that man greatly. But he made this comment on this
text. The greatest gift God bestows
on men, next to himself, son, and spirit, and received by them
in this life, is special grace. That's the greatest gift other
than God himself that he bestows upon men. Special grace, which
God gives of his sovereign will and pleasure. And we know that
so because he said, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. That's God's prerogative. But this is speaking especially
here to ministers, but not exclusively to ministers, I don't believe,
because all of God's children, we're all given various gifts. We don't all have the same gifts,
that's for sure. But whatever gift God has given
to you as a believer, then use it as a good steward of the grace
of God. God's given you that gift, now
use it. for His glory. But it is especially,
no doubt, speaking to preachers. Speak. Notice it says, speak. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. What are the oracles of God? That's the Word of God. That's
what I am to speak, the Word of God. Preach the Word. Remember the Apostle Paul in
Romans tells the Jewish believers there that the chief blessing
that God had given to the nation of Israel, what was it? The oracles,
the word of God. They had God's word, the Old
Testament scriptures, when think of all these other nations in
the world at that time, they didn't have God's word, Israel. His chosen nation, they had God's
word. That was a chief blessing. I
was talking on the phone before I prepared these notes this past
week to Carl Pounds. Now, most of you know Carl Pounds.
If you've ever been in his presence, you know it. He's Gina Bryan's
uncle and Charlie Johnson's brother-in-law, Grace's brother-in-law. In fact,
I told Charles Johnson, after the service this morning, I said,
I spoke to Carl this past week. He said, you did? I said, yeah. He said, well, you know, he has
a gift that I, I don't have. And I said, what is that? He
said, the gift of gab. And I said, I, well, that's true.
I don't believe Carl Palins ever met a stranger in his life. One
of the finest Christian men I've ever known. And he was a member
here, you know, for many years. And he and his wife, Christine,
she's since passed away. But they moved to Tennessee. And the church that they attended
there, they've changed pastors. This is what he was telling me.
He said, our pastor told me the other day, Brother Pledger, he
said, Carl, you're a lot older than I am. He said, you know
probably much more than I do. He said, what can you tell me? And Carl said, well, I'll just
tell you this. He said, you preach the word. Don't you add anything
to it, and don't you subtract anything. And if it offends,
it offends. But preach the word. And I thought
to myself, you couldn't give any young preacher any better
advice than that. Preach the word. That's what
Paul told Timothy, wasn't it? Preach the word. Preach the word. Now I want us to go back and
look at this statement. The end of all things is at hand. How are we to understand that? It's been over 2,000 years since
Peter wrote these words. The end of all things is at hand. Well, let me give us three suggestions
as to how that may be understood. First of all, the end of the
Jewish state. Many of these believers that
Peter was writing to, if you look back in chapter one, to
whom did he write these words? Chapter one, Peter, an apostle
of Jesus Christ to the strangers, scattered throughout. And the
word is the dispersion, to the dispersion. And there's been
three different dispersions. First of all, the Assyrians,
remember, they conquered the 10 tribes of Israel and carried
them, dispersed them in other places. And then they repopulated
that part of what became Samaria. That's how the Samaritans, we
believe, are considered as mixed with partial Jew and partial
of those that were brought in by the king of Assyria to live
in that part of Canaan. So it could be the end of their
state, the Jewish state. Many of these were Jews, they
were believers, but A.D. 70 was right down the road, and
God was going to destroy their temple, and with their temple,
their priests, and their sacrifices. And until today, the end of all
things is at hand, and the end of that old economy came to an
end. Now, that's one way we could
understand this. A second way, those who received this letter,
remember there were people just like you and I that were meeting
somewhere, although he writes it in the letters to be a circulatory
letter to many different churches, but it came to a church and they
probably met in somebody's home and they said, we've got a letter
today from Peter, from the Apostle Peter. And so when he writes,
the end of all things is at hand, the end of the lives of all of
those people who originally received this letter was at hand. Because
you know that the scriptures, when it speaks of man's life
in this world, it always points out that our life is short. It's pictured as a vapor. which
is here in the morning and in the afternoon, it's gone. It's
pictured as a post. I like to think of Pony Express
riders, you know? They don't stay long. They're
riding the post. The mail's got to go on. And
the mailman, Fred, he comes by your house. He doesn't stop and
drink coffee with you. He puts the mail in the box and
moves on to the next place. That's our life in this world.
We're here today and gone tomorrow, the end of all things. Our life
is like a shadow. And then there's a third way.
The end of the universe as we know it today, it's at hand. If you look in 2 Peter, it's
at hand, but remember this, look in 2 Peter chapter three. Verse seven and eight. But the
heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept
in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years and a thousand years. as one day. So it's only been
two days. It's only been two days since
Peter wrote this, the end of all things is at hand. This universe
as we know it now. Well, believing, and I know you
believe, I believe, the word of God tells us this, the end
of all things is at hand. Whether I understand it or do
not understand it, I believe it. It's the Word of God. The end of all things is at hand. In light of this, in light of
the fact that the end of all things is at hand, let me give
us hurriedly four ways that we should walk, knowing this truth. Number one, we should walk in
the belief of this truth. We should walk in the belief
of this truth. The end of all things is at hand
is just as much a faithful saying as Paul's saying, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all things that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. That's a faithful saying, this
is a faithful saying. We should walk believing this
truth and we should accept it, just like Paul said. This is
a faithful saint and worthy of the acceptance. We accept that
statement, don't we, that Christ came into the world to save sinners?
Well, we accept this statement. Number two, we should walk in
the practice of this truth. We should show our faith by our
works, and if we believe that the end of all things is at hand,
it'll show up in our walk. Why are we so concerned, excuse
me, why are we so concerned about the things of this world, the
things of this life? We're leaving in the morning. Reminds me of, that's a problem when you get
old, everything reminds you of something. Brother Scott Richardson. in a motel room, and the man
that owned the motel room was a believer, a child of God, and
he came into the room, and Scott was sitting on the bed, and there
was a picture on the wall, and he said, Scott, don't you see
that picture's not straight, not level? He said, I'm just
staying the night. I'm not moving in here. We should walk as we believe
this truth. Yes, the end of all things is
at hand. We'll soon be with the Lord.
The trumpet will soon sound, and we will be changed in a moment. And the dead shall rise. The
dead in Christ shall rise first, and we shall be caught up with
them. We should walk in the profession
of this truth. We should let other people know,
yes, things are bad. Yes, we don't like the politics
and the laws and things that are going on, but hey, we're
not going to be here much longer. I know some of us older folks,
we're concerned for our grandchildren and rightly so, because the country
I grew up in is not this country anymore. And when you say that,
some people say, well, you're talking about racism. No, no,
not at all. I'm thankful. I'm so thankful
that racism, when I was growing up, is not here today like it
was. I remember Martin Luther King
and the Civil Rights Movement. I was alive. I know something
about that. I'm thankful. I remember going
at Harmon Park and they had water fountains for white and for colored. I'm glad that's gone, aren't
you? But I tell you, there's some things that are gone and
going that were good things. They were good moral things.
And I'm sad for those things to be going. I mean, when we
have a judge, a Supreme Court justice, who cannot define what
a woman is, our country is in bad shape. And I don't, I don't, I don't
want to get in politics, by the grace of God, but we but we should
live. This is not our home. Yeah, we're
concerned. We want to try to pick the right
persons to vote for and and pray for the leaders of our country,
all of that. But my friends, this is a world,
and it's evil. It always has been. There's been
times, no doubt, when things have been better, maybe, than
they are now. But our home, we're seeking a
city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, just
like Abraham of old. And number four, we should walk
in enjoyment of this truth. Yeah, the end of all things is
at hand. Praise God. Weeping may endure
for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. May the Lord bless
His word to us here this evening.