Living Right to The End 1 Peter 4:7-11

It means an awful lot to the Church, the Saints that have built this congregation, and Mass is especially just a blessing in their faithfulness throughout the years. So it's a delight to be with you. Seth asked me to come in and fill in for him while he's away with his family on the other side of town, and so it's a delight to be with you this morning.

I do have a couple of handouts I believe that Seth would approve of, and since we're talking a little bit about the end of time, the end of the age, a little bit about that, not a major theme, but in light of what's going on in our world today, it seems like an upside down world, doesn't it?

Absolutely incredible. We'll say more a little bit about that in a minute, but I've got a couple of things. The biblical prophecy is at least, let's see, the New Testament itself is 218 chapters in the New Testament, and 318 prophecies about the coming of the Lord.

In 210 chapters in the New Testament, 318 deal with the coming of the Lord. Prophecy is a big part. Half of the prophecies written in the Bible have already been fulfilled. Those about St. Daniel and Ezekiel and the Babylonian captivity and all of that, so there's half left.

So I want to share with you a biblical prophecy timeline about what's yet to come. We have the church age and we have the tribulation period, first and second half of the tribulation, then the second coming of Christ, but before the second coming of Christ, we believe, I do believe in the rapture of the church.

He can come at any moment, and that's on this chart as well. And I've got another chart that distinguishes between the rapture and the return. The rapture is coming for the saints, and that's going to be coming for us, take us to heaven, and then the return, second coming of Christ, is coming with the saints, coming back down with you to live and reign for a thousand years.

So, I just have a couple here. I've left an original copy on the machine to figure out how to make copies. Okay? Alright. Well, 1 Peter chapter 4 is our text today. I encourage you to open up and look at that.

Living Right in Light of the End

We are going to look at that and read it together. Verse 7, The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded. Sanity. Be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.

If anyone serves, he should do it with strength that God provides so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. Lord, I pray that you bless our time together in your word.

We thank you for this admonition. The end will come. The end of the age, the end of the church age is the coming of Christ and the rapture of the church to take us home. The tribulation period is yet to come, but Lord, there will be the end of this church age soon.

We pray, Father, that you give us grace to stand and stay strong. Lord, we would use our gifts to build up the body of Christ and serve whichever gift you've given to us and its diversity in this body, Lord, until you take us away.

Help us to honor you today. And if there's anyone here today that has any doubt of any kind about their eternal destiny, that today they would hear from you, that you would give them spiritual birth, that you would quicken their spirit and bring them into your family through faith and trust.

Guide us, we pray today, in living right to the end. You know, Peter was written, Peter wrote the book of Peter because of the persecution that Nero inflicted upon the church. He burnt Rome, blamed the Christians, and so there was this incredible fear that they were going to be victims of Herod's, or Nero's, excuse me, Nero's craziness.

And so they thought that the end was coming. They thought that their demise was on the horizon. And so this is, in a sense, a warning that it may be our time to pass or to be persecuted. And that's the context of what Peter is writing here to the early church that was dispersed everywhere because of the radicalness of the emperor in Rome, Nero.

Have you ever heard of the little nursery rhyme, Chicken Little? Anybody? Older people have. Maybe not the youngest crowd, I'm not sure. But it's a nursery rhyme that echoes in my memory. It's real, it's very real.

It's a warning. And Chicken Little said, The sky is falling. The sky is falling. I must go tell the king. You know, if you know the nursery rhyme, there's Henny Penny and then there's Turkey Lurkey and then there's Ducky Dattles and then there's Foxy Loxy.

If you know the story, you don't want to be around Foxy Loxy at all. But here, how did he know that the sky was falling? He had this empirical evidence. He thought, how did he know? He said, Well, I felt it.

I felt it. It fell on my head. And I must go and tell the king. Well, what was falling from the sky? I think it was an acorn, I think, as the story goes. And does that mean the sky is falling? Was there really empirical evidence that the sky was falling?

Well, of course not. But he experienced something and he felt it. And we're living in a day and age in our world where if you feel something, then, you know, experience it or do it. Or we're basing truth on how I feel.

Sexuality, especially in our day and age, if you feel different, my heart aches for those that are going through kinds of sexual confusion. They don't know if they're a male or a female. I mean, that's science.

It's just the way it is. We're being sold a bill of goods. Here's a kick in the liver who said, I felt it. It was my experience. See, there's much more to it than our experiences. He added up a 2 plus 2 and it turned into 6 or something along that line.

And it must be true because I felt it. Ladies and gentlemen, let's not live our lives by our feelings. Our feelings come and go and they change from season to season. We do not base our morality or our future on feelings.

We base it on the truth of God's holy word. And yet, here is Peter who said, the end of all things is near. It's nearer because it's closer to the day than it was yesterday. Peter is not like Chicken Little in saying there's evidence.

Well, there was persecution and there's persecution in our day as well. Churches are being burned all over the world. Christians are facing persecution everywhere. And that is a sign of the end. But near compared to what?

The word end here means consummation or a goal achieved. It's an admonition that hopefully this will be the end of this persecution. We're always going to find times where we feel like this is all I can handle.

This is all I can take. There is an end of the age. And so when I think of what we're going to be looking at, it's an admonition that we need to live right. I don't know when he's coming. He said he is.

He's going to take me home. It's called the rapture of the church. But I don't know. We do believe it's eminent. It could happen at any time. But let's be clear. The Bible doctrine of eschatology describes signs and prophecies of Christ's second coming.

Like I said, second coming of Christ is mentioned 318 times in the New Testament. 27 of the entire Bible is prophetic. And so we need to understand what the Bible says about what is yet to come or yet to happen in our world.

Half of it has been fulfilled. But you see, Paul and all the prophets predicted his return, that second coming. The coming of the Lord draws near, the Bible says, to the apostle John in Revelation. And John said in Revelation, surely Jesus comes quickly.

That's the rapture. And then it will be the return at the end. I hope you're hungry to know more about that. Study the book of Daniel or Revelation. The final chapter of world history is 2 ,000 years.

From creation to Christ was 4 ,000 years of history. From Adam to Christ, 4 ,000 years of history. Now since Christ, it's approximately been 2 ,000 more years. So that equals 4 and 2, the regular math that we're all familiar with, that equals 6.

That's 6 ,000 years of recorded human history. Put 1 ,000 years in the morning and get God's promises to come. 1 ,000 years after the tribulation where we're going to ruin and reign with Christ for 1 ,000 years.

That's kind of an overview of the eschatology that's yet to come. And in light of all of that, not knowing when he's going to take us home, I say the Lord comes quickly, there and after. We're going to talk about that in a minute as well.

We should live right in the shadows of eternity. Live a wholesome life. Live a pure life. Live a holy life. Live a life of truth and life of his return at any moment. There are two things. Number one, verses 7 and 8, we ought to live preserving life itself.

You probably expect me to talk about pro-life, and I do. I'm 110 pro-life. And I think if we have to preserve life, life is precious, life is valuable. We do all we can to save and rescue lives all the time.

Live life. The second thing we are going to talk about is practicing a serving lifestyle. So we walk submissively. We worship triumphantly. We witness urgently to people that do not know the Lord. We work fervently and we watch expectantly.

So, kind of getting a bigger picture of the book of 1 Peter, which is one of my favorites, especially chapter 1. But chapter 1 is all about our glorious salvation. Chapter 2 in the book of Peter is about our holy life and view of that salvation, how we ought to live.

Chapter 3 and 4 is instructions while we are in need. And I've experienced it. As a matter of fact, people don't want to talk about God anymore in the public sphere. It's kind of a very touchy subject to talk about God in schools, for instance.

You can't hardly bring up His name. And then chapter 5 is final warnings. The big question is, how do we know we are in this final chapter? Because of the evidence, the signs of being fulfilled, the rise of Israel since 1948.

We all know that. The Roman Empire, the EU, the European Economic Union, that's a stage set for the next world government. The one world system that we are going to begin with. The apostasy today is higher than it's ever been.

People are leaving the faith in greater numbers. The moral collapse of our world today. Who would think a hundred years ago, none of us have been around for a hundred years. A hundred years ago, who would ever think that it would be legal to kill babies in a room?

I don't think anybody in their wildest imagination would think that would be legal. And now it's advertised, the coming of a new government in Houston, in California. You heard about the billboards we've got up.

We've got billboards all over the country. And on the billboards it says, read something about praying for your reproductive health rights. Using the biblical passage, love one another as I have loved you.

That's Jesus who said that to his disciples. Love one another as I have loved you. And the billboards all talk about that. Love one another as I have loved you. So we're going to help you abort your baby.

And we really can pay for you to come. Can you imagine? One of my favorite pastors, I've ever listened to is John Parker. And once you have a hymnal, you have to have a hymnal on it. He's a wonderful Bible teacher.

He wrote a letter to Reverend Houston. How dare you take a Bible verse and talk about love one another as I have loved you. And this is the vision of the billboards to kill babies. He had the courage to write them up.

Open them up. Look at it. You should find it somewhere in there. The world is going to actually look like this. Because the end is near. How do you know that? Look at Romans 1. Look at this passage. The wrath of God is coming upon the world, and I believe soon.

God is being revealed. The wrath of God is being revealed against heaven, against godlessness, and against wickedness. And there's three places, verse 24, verse 26, and verse 28, where it says,. And God gave them over to their sinful desires.

The sexual revolution. And then 26, and God gave them over to their shameful lusts. And it points out very clearly the abomination of homosexuality. And then there's STD and the AIDS epidemic. And then that verse 28 says, God gave them over to a depraved mind.

Literally insane insanity. So we have an insanity today that's just upside down, backwards. God is not going to deny. And in light of the end in sight, in light of the craziness in our world, and by the way, who is the sign of the end in sight?

In conviction is the discussion in government about the electronic means of currency. You've heard of that? Bitcoin and all that kind of thing going on right now. But electronic currency that you not even need a dollar bill on it.

It's just electronic. Well, that's Paul's writing of the case of what can happen in tribulation if you didn't have to have the mark of the beast in tribulation. You know, the buy and sell. The book of Revelation talks totally about that.

Very clearly about the mark of the beast. And that discussion is going on right now with those that are in power. And I'm not sure if Biden has signed some kind of executive order or not. But I don't want to prompt alarmism, but we know that we're getting closer and closer.

The world seems upside down. While the world is getting darker and darker, our light ought to be shining brighter and brighter. We forgive as we have been. And we talk about all that. We preserve our lives.

Verse 7 in our text. We preserve life. The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled that you can pray. Don't waste your life. Don't waste your time. In John 9, verse 4, Jesus said, Now is the time to work.

The darkness is coming when no man can work. So work the works that I give you while it is day. For the night of the darkness is nigh. Be steady. The first thing is be sound in your thinking. Be wise in your line-upon-line watchful thinking.

You ought to know what the word says about the things we're talking about. Be steady and sound in judgment. A sound mind is a brief word that means sanity. What's going on in our world today is absolutely upside down and insane.

And it goes on, number 2, it says, Be steady in your mind, but be sober in your spirit. Be one that's filled with sobriety so that you can pray today. Not to be swept away by emotions and passions and, Well, I don't feel like that.

You're tired. You know, do the right thing at the right time. Not led by feelings or the lusts or the flesh. You know, if you always did what your flesh would say, you'd probably be 400 pounds heavier than you actually are.

And you'd probably be in trouble with your loved ones and family if you were led by our emotions. Rather, clear thinking, typical patterns, proper proportions, proper sequences, one thing at a time. Be sharp mentally.

Know your Bible. Know how to give an answer for the reason of the hope that's within you. Sanity is not being easily swayed or unbalanced in your theology or your activity. A good steward gives God his rightful purpose in life.

So seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all things will be added up, with God's grace, in your daily activity. Depression begins when things pile up. And you don't know what to order.

We haven't talked about this. We continue our daily activities. Things pile up and you get anxious and fearful. And then you crash. Let the peace of God rule in your heart. Let the word of God dwell in you, what, richly, so that you can face all the attacks of the evil one.

Put on the, what, the whole armor of God. Be steady, be sober-minded, be self-controlled. Sobriety, not under the influence of drugs or deception or lies or alcohol. Let it go. Sorry for the reputation that Wisconsin has about, you know, bars all over the place.

It's very, very true. And those that are in bondage to alcohol, my heart absolutely aches for them. But it's not like, it's like any question-safe outcome. It's a very difficult one. Smoking and both intoxicating and controlling behaviors are not easy to pull apart.

But God can give you the grace and strength to overcome any and all addictions. Whether it's a food addiction, a sugar addiction, or it's something that is destroying your body. I have dear friends who are really gracious.

So the next one, it says, be sober for the purpose of prayer. Verse 7, be sober for the purpose of prayer. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that, put this clause there, so that you can pray.

Be serious about prayer. Be serious about life. And get involved in a prayer circle or a prayer meeting. I happen to be the one in my church where we leave the Sunday morning, 6 a .m. prayer gathering for the men.

We just come no matter what. We come for a gathering for men to pray for our country, our world, our nation, our pastor, our missionaries. We ought to do that. There ought to be a prayer meeting. The necessity of all of us, earnest desire to discover the will of God.

That's why we pray, to discover what God wants us to do. I know that you believe in the sovereignty of God. I'm sure you've been taught. God is sovereign. God has an eternal plan. Wherever Satan has plans, he sets up kings and puts them down.

He knows he's going to be the next person holding the office that you want your candidate to be in. I do the same thing. I'm looking for conservative people who have conservative values. And so that what?

Our life would be a blessing and that there would be tranquility and that there would be fortitude. Be serious about that. Not to treat the Lord like a big grandpa in the sky saying, give me this good thing or this little new toy or this little gadget, this little entertainment device or this little hand-held thing that drives my hand.

Lord, I will be done. I'm going to go to heaven. Put on this new thing. So the fourth way we conserve life is it says be fervent in life. That word fervent is an incredible word. It's ectonates. It is that unfailing, outstretched runner that gives it everything it's got to the very end.

It's like stretching your ligaments. It's doing the very best with what God has given to you. That's what the word means, fervent. You're a runner giving it everything you've got. Fervent love. It's not just some sentimental surface love based on appearance, but a love that is sacrificial, a love that is not easily forsaken.

It's not a convenient love when it looks good. It's a love that is there in the trenches of all the issues that we face in life. I was at a wedding last Sunday north of Clearwater 20 miles or so, and Brian Olson, his son Nick, was getting married to Lydia.

So they had the vows and all that. And now they have to make a big celebration. And there is a message from the father of the bride, the father of the groom to the bride. So Brian's giving to his son.

He says, Son, I've got one more vow I want you to promise that you'll make for me. He said, Okay, Dad. And I'm sure it was choreographed and not outspoken. He said, Son, I would like to have you repeat this vow.

Would you repeat it? He said, Yes, I will. He said, I want you to repeat after me, Nick. I will not let my wife out-give me, out-serve me. I will not let my wife out-serve me. And I thought, What? Are you crazy?

It's kind of a surprise. This could be a surprise to all of us. But I will not let my wife out-serve me. And he said that to the bride. And it was touching. It was a phenomenal continuation of that. An exception of that.

I will not let my wife out-give me, out-serve me. That's life. That's really what it is. I will serve my wife more than she's served me. It's true. That's what we're to do. We're to be servant leaders.

We're the ones that would be the example of sacrificial love. Loving always. Loving in a way that you're not going to ever love my wife no matter what happens. Lee Iacocca, he asked Coach Vince Lombardi what it takes to make a winning team.

Here's what Vince said. I said, How do you know how we feel? By the way, I really feel sorry for you. I really do. I said to every Packer fan in the field, I said, Now you know how we feel. For the first time in a long time.

I feel the same way. Here's what Vince Lombardi said about a winning team. He said, There are a lot of coaches with good ball quality who know the fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don't win games.

Then you come to the third ingredient. If you're going to play together as a team, you've got to care for one another. You've got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy.

You've got to be concerned about the other guy, the next guy. You've got to do your job well in order to eat and do his. The difference between mediocrity and greatness is the feeling that these guys love me.

It isn't the truth. We have that kind of a perfect love focused on sacrificial compassion. 1 Thessalonians 4, this is Paul. He says, Now about brotherly love, we do not need to write to you. For you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.

And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more. That one says, Love covers a multitude of sins. Love overlooks sin. The word covers here means to cover it.

Love covers it. Just like God's love for me covers my sin. God's love covers my sin. Doesn't it make sense that our love for one another would cover or forgive your sins? How many times are we to forgive?

We love as we ought. God will. He has forgiven us. There are two types of people in the world. There's the perfect type. Perfect type. The ones that are sometimes controlling you. The self-righteous ones.

They tend to be judgmental and unforgiving. They need critical controlling. There is a protectionist kind of people. Then there's the sinner type. They think, I have to forgive my kids. I have to forgive my little brother.

God forgives. God loves. God looks at us in spite of our sins. Why not accept others in spite of theirs? I know a person who's not going to church because of a little hypocrisy. Not me. Not me. But all of us.

I want to encourage you to forgive one another. And then secondly, this is 9 to 11. Serving one another. Offer hospitality to one another without judgment. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.

Faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. Every one of us should do that. Every one of us has one or two or three of them. The practice of a servant lifestyle. Be hospitable. Be genuinely friendly.

Philadelphia is love of a stranger. Zainab, the love of strangers. Christianity may not have survived had it not been for this gift alone. Because there were no hotels back then. There were no motels.

There were no retreat centers. And if people didn't invite people into their homes and stay, it wouldn't have spread as it did so quickly. Christianity never survived. Choosing your home as a place for the house to stay.

That's how faith grows. You know, I've read a lot about how faith grows. I've been to many seminars on faith growth. Lots of little tidbits of information on how to grow a church. But it really boils down to really the simple.

Diet. Atmosphere. And diet is good food. Let me think about it. Good food. Junk food. Not in the church. Diet and climate. Is this word for your soul? The word of God that's going to feed your spirit and soul?

And rebuke and exhort and call on suffering and doctrine? That you may be approved unto God as a workman that doesn't need to be ashamed? That's diet. This is my diet. And then the climate. No. Climate is the atmosphere.

It's the temperature. The temperature of the church should be nice and just comfortable. Whatever. It's the climate. It's the love. It's the Bible and God's word of love. Be ministers of God's grace in its various forms.

Good stewards. We are not owners. We are all managers of what God has given to us. I just manage what God has given to me. I'm the owner. There is a Benedictine month, order of months, that has a little kind of a logo.

It has four letters. I-O-G-E. In Latin, in, O is omnibus. And that means for all. G is for glory. In all, I-O-G-E. Our purpose is to glorify God. Display his grace and his gifts and his goodness.

We display his love. He's serious about prayer. Knowing that the end could come at any moment for us. We could be out of here. I don't know when he's going to come home. On the trumpet, I'm listening to the trumpet.

There were two guys riding in the car. One was a Christian. The other was a non-Christian. The non-Christian pointed to a bumper sticker on the car in front of them. He said, what's that word mean? One word was maranat.

The Christian replied, that word means the Lord is coming. The non-Christian said, I don't believe any of that stuff. He said, well, he's only coming for his bride. What the heck is that? He's coming.

He's only coming for his bride. The end is near. We don't know when it's going to come. But are you ready? If your life were to end, would you go to heaven? Absolutely, without a doubt. Would you be born again?

Would you have that experience of the spiritual birth that you have? Do you keep any revelation that you were lost and you needed a place? We all are. All of humanity, we're all lost and dead in our trespasses and sins.

So, Paul, in the book of Ephesians, I'm dead in my trespasses. I'm dead in my, I'm separated from the life of God. I need to be born again. I'm still. Are you ready? Are you serious about life? Are you fair-minded?

Do you love fervently? Are you ready to stretch out that ligament of love and keep on loving until the very end? Are you hospitable? In light of the Lord's imminent return, are we using our gifts in this body?

Three things that drive us. Love for the Master. Love for Jesus. Lord, I thank you so much for this day. I thank you for this church. I thank you, Lord, that you are putting your hand upon the cross of Jesus, that you are his wife and family and all your brothers and sisters.

We have seen the things that we cannot forgive. Someone that actually came to our mind that we are here, that we're sinful, that for some reason think that it's impossible. Lord, we are to love one another fervently and forgive as we have been forgiven.

That is not the whole of the action. We have this God-given to us to build up the body of Christ. Lord, open the door for us to tell the truth about Jesus. Before we have our last song, I just want to have you ask you all to pray for me.

The best job I've had since I was a pastor for three years, as a chaplain for the Portland Matthews, I get to work in the manufacturing business. I get to work as a chaplain in the public arena. I get to work as a care partner of the policy at Anglican Union.

I get to walk around the planet talking to people about communion, talking about their relationships and their family and concerns. We never leave with the gospel, but we leave with love for them where they are.

You'd be surprised how many doors open and you say, I'm here to help you. I work for you. I'm concerned about your marriage or your hurts, your heartaches, your anxiety, your stress, your depression. I'm here to help you.

I'm going to pray by grace to give us a chance to share the good news. And guess what? I get to do that. And I'm so blessed to pray for you. We have 35 chaplains. And by the way, you're somebody that's got a college degree and you're retired and you wanted something to do for the Lord.

Come talk to us. You could be a chaplain, a caregiver, a care partner, as it's called in most companies. Very few of them call it chaplain. I mean, it's a wonderful way to send a message to help people heal up and find their salvation.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. I feel good to hear your message again today. And, yes, let's just pray right now. Lord, Professor Larry goes into his new position, his new job, Lord. We just praise him. We ask that you be with him and strengthen him.

Lord, it's such an opportunity, opening up your word and your gospel to others, to a man such as him. We know that many chaplains have become secular. The growth today, Lord, and we're just so grateful that he chose to work in this capacity, Lord.

We just pray for your blessings upon his work and that your word will spread throughout this planet and through their families and their communities as well. Lord, we can tell you we just thank you for this.

We thank you, Pastor Larry, for this. He's a focused child. You know it. If you don't, just carefully, and maybe next time you pick up a little bit more, he's done, he'll be five years from now. If you don't feel like it, no.

But if you know it, sing along. The words are, Holy God, help me sing. Perfect man to bear my blame. Upon the cross, he took my sin, and by his death, he wouldn't sin. Hail, Mr. God.