The End is Near

Take your Bibles, would you? 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 7.

And I'm going to read all the way down to verse 11 eventually, but just not yet.! Okay, so find 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 7. And listen to the first phrase in the verse.

Peter says, But the end of all things is at hand. There it is. Possibly if you were awake last night, I don't know what time it happened, I was oblivious to it, but we had yet another earthquake, didn't we?

Five point something. The early hours of Saturday morning, I also missed that one. I think about 2.30 or so. We had, what, 4.7.

And so maybe there are some people thinking, at least in Oklahoma, that the end of all things is near with these earthquakes. But it's an interesting thing to say right here at the beginning of a paragraph of Scripture, a paragraph in Peter's letter.

But the end of all things is near, if you have a translation that uses that word.

Edgar C. Weissnacht, I don't know if you're familiar with that name, a former NASA engineer, predicted the rapture would occur in 1988.

And sometime between, he said, September 11, 1988, and September 13, somewhere in that ballpark. And he published a couple of books, one of which was quite popular at the time, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Occur in 1988.

Some of you might remember that. It was quite popular. In fact, he sold 4.5 million copies of that book in bookstores, as well as some Christian ministries and Christian outlets.

His 88 proofs were, according to Weissnacht, based upon a series of dates and calculations that he was able to get from the Bible, as well as some other historical facts.

And Weissnacht was quoted as saying, only, now listen to this, only if the Bible is in error am I wrong. Well, 1988, as far as I can tell, came and went, and we're still here.

So, he was certainly wrong. So, I guess the Bible is in error, if we're to take Weissnacht's word on that. And yet, not to be refused, Weissnacht failed his 1988 prediction, but he responded with a series of other books and a series of predictions.

And he said that the rapture would occur in 1989, and then 1993, and then 1994, and it still hasn't happened. I guess he gave up. I haven't heard the latest on Weissnacht.

But, you know, he was not the first to make predictions concerning the end times. Some of you might remember a popular preacher by the name of Chuck Smith.

And, as far as I know, he's still preaching today. I don't know. I haven't heard him lately on the radio. But he was very popular. Founder of Calvary Chapel and kind of that series of churches. And some years ago, he published a book entitled End Times.

End Times. And in that book, he wrote, and I quote, As we look at the world scene, it would appear that the coming of the Lord is very, very close.

If I understand Scripture correctly, Jesus taught us that the generation which sees the budding of the fig tree, the birth of the nation Israel, will be the generation that sees the Lord's return.

I believe that generation of 1948 is the last generation. Since a generation is 40 years and the tribulation lasts seven years, I believe the Lord could come back for His church any time before the tribulation starts.

I would agree with him on that. But he said, Which would mean any time before 1981? Kind of stuck his neck out there.

And, of course, it didn't happen. You might remember how Lindsay, the late great planet Earth, had the same view at the time. Now, for centuries, people have predicted the end of the world.

It's not anything new. In fact, you may not know this, but even in Baptist life, early Southern Baptist life, even before the Southern Baptist Convention was formed, we had the Millerites in the early 1800s.

They were the followers of a William Miller who predicted that Christ would return between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844.

So he had kind of a year-long window there for the return of Christ. And then, of course, when the date came and went, he claimed a miscalculation, of course.

And he revised his prediction to October 22, 1844. And, of course, that date came and went, too. And other religions have had their predictions.

The Jehovah's Witnesses set the end of all things for the year 1914. And then they revised it to 1918. And then 1925.

And then 1942. And I think they stopped setting the date after that. There was also a Korean group that called themselves Missions for the Coming Days.

And they predicted the end of the world would come October 28, 1992. Most recently, we've had the latest prediction of radio evangelist Harold Camping.

I don't know if you've been following this, but Camping has proposed dates for the rapture three times. September 6, 1994. Then May 21, 2011.

Not too long ago. And his most recent prediction was October 21, 2011. Just last month. And, of course, it didn't happen.

All three proposed rapture dates have come and gone without event. And the world is still here. We're still here. And so forth. Now, in all fairness, Camping did acknowledge his faulty calculations, his prediction.

And he issued an apology to his followers, of course, that after he raked in a reported $80 million from his supporters.

And I don't know if he's going to give all that money back. And I got to thinking, maybe this would be a good way for us to pay off our building. Just to set a date and maybe we could get some followers that way. Well, maybe not.

Now, the next date to keep in mind, keep your eye on, is apparently December 21, 2012.

Do you know about this? That's when the Mayan long count calendar marks the end of its 5,126 year era.

And supposedly a whole lot of people are on board for this one. You can go. They even have a website. And you can find a list of Hollywood celebrities that have signed off on this date.

Now, just what's going to happen on December 21, 2012 is a little unclear. But it's the end of all things, apparently, according to this calendar.

And believe me when I say that we're going to hear a whole lot about this date in the days to come, aren't we? Now, having said all of that, as interesting as that might be or may not be, Peter said, here in 1 Peter 4, verse 7, For the end, but the end of all things is at hand.

That's what he said. Now, on the face of it, just exactly as it's written, that it is translated into our English.

And there are various translations out there, of course. Just on the face of it. And especially in the version that I just read to you. The end of all things is at hand.

Let me ask you something. What makes Peter's declaration different from all the others that I've just recited to you? And others that we could recite. I mean, it sounds very much like Peter is setting a date for his readers.

Albeit not a specific date and time, as some have tried to do. But just on the face of it, it sounds like Peter is saying, it's now.

The end has come. It's at hand. Or at least very soon. Or at the very least, in your lifetime.

Doesn't it sound like that to you? Kind of gives you this image of a man walking the city streets with one of these sandwich billboards on that says, The end is near.

You know. Is Peter some kind of religious nut? Some kook? Some crazy religious fool? Or is Peter just simply wrong about it?

Well, before I answer, let's read the rest of the text, okay? And we'll find out what Peter's getting at here.

But the end of all things is at hand, therefore. Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things, have fervent love for one another.

For love will cover a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies. That in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and dominion, the dominion forever and ever.

Amen. Now, before we really get into this, let me just tell you in a nutshell what Peter is saying. He is saying, because the end is near, the church should concentrate on glorifying God through prayer, love, and service.

That's it. And we're not going home yet. But that is it in a nutshell. Let me say it again.

Because the end is near. There's no doubt that's what Peter is saying. Not exactly what he means by that. We'll get to that here in a minute. But he says, because the end is near, the church should concentrate on glorifying God through prayer, love, and service.

That's it. So, Peter begins with an incredible declaration. The end is at hand. Or the end is near. And he concludes with a wonderful exaltation.

Glorifying God. And then, in between, Peter connects these two things with clear instructions. Instructions.

On how we are to live. In light of these two things. It's pretty simple. All right. So, let's take this a step at a time.

First of all, hear Peter's declaration. Hear it. Hear his declaration there in verse 7. But the end of all things is at hand.

Or near, if you wish. And that's how it's translated. Now, you know, Peter was not the only biblical author to write such words. Or to write in these terms.

In fact, nearly all of them did. Let's take, for example, James. The half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in James chapter 5, verse 8.

Peter, or rather, James wrote. You shall be patient. Establish your hearts. For the coming of the Lord is at hand. That's what James said.

That sounds very much like what Peter just said. Or how about the Apostle John? John wrote in 1 John chapter 2, verse 18. He said, Little children, it is the last hour.

That's what John said. The Apostle John, it's the last hour. And he goes on and he said, As you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come.

By which we know that it is the last hour. That's just what Peter said. Paul, the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 13, verse 11.

He says, And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to wake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Similar thing. So you see, Peter and his contemporaries all give us a sense, at least a sense, that they have this thought about the end.

That the end was going to occur in their lifetime. I mean, on the face of it, that's what it seems. Is that what they believed? I will tell you that in one sense, yes, that is what they believed.

It would have come in their lifetime. But I say that with a qualification. See, we need to, first of all, before we get into any of the rest of what Peter says in this paragraph, we need to understand what he means by this statement.

That the end of all things is at hand. What does he mean by that? Well, the word end, that's where we ought to begin, with the end, with the word end anyway.

The word end is a specific word that does not mean termination, but rather it means consummation. Not termination, the absolute end of something, but consummation.

And there's a difference between those two things. And so the idea here is that there is coming very soon a fulfillment of a divine purpose.

That's what Peter's getting at here. The fulfillment of a divine purpose. And what is that divine purpose or plan? It's the all things that he mentions here.

I know he's not real specific, but we don't have to wonder what he means by that. The all things that is about to come to an end is God's divine plan.

His divine purpose. And what is it? The all things refers to his redemption. His plan of redemption.

His purposes of redemption. Or, to put it another way, our salvation. Completed. And so the end of it will occur with an event that's going to take place.

And that event is the second coming of Christ. That's what he's talking about. In fact, we could look at something Luke wrote in Acts chapter 3.

And I'll just read verses 18 and following. In Acts chapter 3, verse 18, it's something Luke wrote, but it's something that Peter spoke. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that the Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled.

This is his first coming, the cross. And so what does he say next? Repent therefore. Repent therefore and be converted. That your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before.

This is speaking of his second coming. Whom heaven must receive until... Until what? The times of restoration of all things.

That is, God's complete plan is finished. Which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. That's what he's talking about, this very thing right here.

These all things. The all things is God's purpose. His purposes of redemption that will be completed.

And the end event that's going to take place will be the second coming of Christ. Now there's some events that will take place around that. I personally believe that his second coming is a two-stage type of thing.

He's going to be coming for the rapture of the church, and then one day he will come to establish his millennial kingdom. But that's getting into other areas we don't need to talk about necessarily this morning.

But the point is that Peter's saying the end, the consummation, the fulfillment of a divine plan, these all things, is at hand.

Or it's very near. Now, all that's pretty easy to figure out, really. It's not complicated. And it doesn't trouble us. It excites us.

But the troubling part of this passage is the phrase, at hand. There's where we have trouble in our interpretation. What does he mean? At hand.

What did Peter mean by that? Well, the word Peter used does not carry the idea of a specific date. Not a certain designated time.

If he meant that, then we would have to conclude that Peter's saying, it's now. Jesus is coming right now. Right now, today. Now, the word doesn't mean that.

Now, we get that idea or the thought of that from the translation. And I read from the New King James Version. Some of you have the King James Versions. And even the ESV have it translated at hand.

But that's a little misleading. The word means to approach. Or it's approaching. We're drawing near to it.

We're coming near to it. In fact, that's why I think the New American Standard probably is better for us here. They use the word near. The end of all things is near.

So what is Peter's point? The second coming of Christ is imminent. You've heard that word before, haven't you?

Imminent. I believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ. But what does that mean? Well, just simply put, it means it could happen at any moment. We don't have to wait for anything to take place first.

There isn't anything on some kind of timetable that must happen first. The return of Christ for His church is imminent. It may happen at any moment.

It's the next thing on God's eschatological timetable. It could happen right now. And that's what Peter's meaning.

It's imminent at any moment. And it's very important that we understand His meaning because then we're going to understand why He goes from there to what He says next as He gives us instruction.

We need to understand that it could happen any moment. It could happen right now. There isn't anything that has to happen first. We're not looking for any kind of sign before Christ comes for His church.

It could happen any time. Paul used the same word in Romans 13, 12. He said, The night is far spent. The day is at hand. The day of His coming is at hand.

Therefore, Peter also says therefore, we'll get into that later, but Paul says therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.

And so Paul and Peter lived with a constant sense of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, since he said it, wrote it, it's been 2,000 years, hasn't it?

And yet, it is still just as imminent now as it was when Peter wrote those words at any moment. And therefore, how Peter desired his readers to react to that, that's how we need to react to it still today.

One respected theologian put it this way, said the doctrine of the return of Christ is not presented for debate, but for direction. not for cleverly devised charts, and I've seen a lot of them, but for conduct.

Not for divisiveness, and it certainly is a little number of people, isn't it? But it's presented not for divisiveness, but for disturbing man from his lethargy, his sleep, and provoking him to prayer.

That's Peter's purpose. And so then, how are we to react? We have here Peter saying, the end of all things is near. It's at hand. And yet, it's been 2,000 years, and it hasn't come.

And so, we're to look at it in the same way. It's near. It's at hand. And yet, it may not happen today. And yet, we're to live as though it was going to happen today.

One newspaper columnist wrote this. Not a theologian, but he is exactly right, though he was not applying it to theology in any way.

He said this. He said, the art of living successfully consists of being able to hold two opposite ideas in tension at the same time.

First, to make long-term plans as if we were going to live forever. And second, to conduct ourselves daily as if we were going to die tomorrow. That's how we should consider the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

We don't know when it's going to be. And by the way, the proof of your zeal for the second coming of Christ is not your desire to figure out when it's going to happen.

I have an idea that a whole lot of, quote, theologians and pastors and other Christians who think that their zeal for the second coming is proved by their working diligently to discover when it's going to happen.

And so, every day, they saturate their minds and their lives with current events and trying to connect them with prophecy and trying to come up with, you know, some kind of formula, some kind of calculation.

And so, they would say, I have a real zeal for the second coming of Christ. I'm so excited about it. But the proof of it is not that you are trying to figure out when it's going to happen. The proof of it is in your desire to live as though it were today.

as though he were coming today. As though you would see Jesus today. And that is what Peter means by this.

So, hear Peter's declaration. Second, heed Peter's instruction. Heed his instruction.

Peter says, but the end of all things is at hand or near therefore. Therefore, what? Therefore, here are some things you should be doing.

It's just as simple as that. And he lists three broad categories of things. Pray, love, serve. And all three of these things are within the context of the body of Christ.

Pray, love, serve. First of all, he says, pray seriously. Pray seriously. He says, this is a time for serious prayer.

It was 2,000 years ago when Peter wrote these words to his audience and it is still the case today. His coming, the Lord's coming is near and it's time for serious prayer.

Serious prayer. Therefore, he says, be serious and watchful in your prayers. Or some translated, be sober and watch.

I highly recommend that you be sober every day. The reference here is not to alcohol, okay. Well, the idea is similar. Another translator puts sound judgment, be of sound judgment and sober spirit or self-controlled and sober minded.

And so we have the word sober kind of appearing on both sides of the equation. And that tells us that the two concepts that Peter puts side by side are very similar in meaning. Though there is a difference.

In the first place, when he says to be serious, to be serious in prayer, that comes from a word that means to be in your right mind. And that's a good thing, isn't it?

To be in your right mind. I think we ought to always be in our right mind. Though we sometimes are not. But as connected to prayer, this is very important. You see, prayer is not to be out of control emotionally.

I know emotions take place when we're communing with God, but we don't reach the place of emotionalism so that we're not even thinking properly.

He says you need to be serious. You need to be in your right mind. When you pray, so prayer is not to be some kind of unintelligible kind of communication.

You need to be in your right mind. There are those who advocate some kind of prayer language. So that when they're done, they don't really know what they've said. No, no, no, that's not scriptural.

We're to be in our right mind when we pray. And by the same token, prayer is not to be robotic or formulaic. No, if it's your habit just to simply get up every morning and pray the Lord's prayer, then you've missed something.

You're not praying in your own mind here. You're just simply reciting some kind of formula for prayer, some kind using some rote memory of some prayer.

No, he says this to be very serious prayer. And not only serious, it's to be watchful. That's how the New King James and King James render it.

Sober minded. And it comes from a word that means to be observant. Watchful. Observant. in this context, spiritually observant, spiritually alert when we pray.

And what that means is you bring into your prayers an alertness of spiritual things and spiritual realities to be able to be observant of the world around you so that that informs you in your praying.

And so we don't just come to the Lord in prayer and say, forgive me for my sins and provide my daily bread. No, we bring into our prayers the things that we are observing in our world because we're spiritually alert and have eternity in our minds.

And it affects our prayer life. Especially in light of the fact that Jesus may be coming at any moment. See, prayer is a serious thing.

It's not just some haphazard, casual thing that we're involved in in our lives as believers. And in our praying, we're to never give up.

I want to show you something that Jesus said in Luke chapter 18. In Luke chapter 18, it's right after Jesus tells a parable.

chapter 18. And he says in verse 8, the last part of verse 8, he asks this question.

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? Now, Jesus is talking about himself coming.

He's the Son of Man. When Christ returns, will he find faith on this earth? What does he mean by that? Does he mean, is he going to find anybody believing in him?

No, that's not what he means. How do we know what he means? Well, we have to go all the way back to the first verse of chapter 18 and look at what it says. Then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.

men and women ought to pray and not faint, not give up. They're to continue steadfastly in serious prayer.

And then he tells this parable about this widow who comes to a ruler who doesn't fear God and doesn't fear man and she has a request of him and the idea is that she just keeps coming and coming and coming and the ruler says, because this widow troubles me I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me.

Now this is not a picture of God. This is an extreme. And he's making a point. But the point is that we never give up. We keep coming to God. It's called importuning prayer.

It's prayer that will not take no for an answer. Can we have that kind of prayer with God? Yeah. We keep coming to him and beseeching him and pleading with him and bringing our prayers to him and we do not faint.

And this is what Jesus said. When the Son of Man comes, will he find that kind of faith here? That kind of praying? If he were to come today, would he find that kind of faithful praying in your life?

That's the question. Pray seriously. Second, Peter's second point of instruction that we're to heed is to love sacrificially.

Verses eight and nine. And above all things, that's how he presents this. And why would he say that? Because love is a supreme virtue. Above all things, have fervent love one for another, for one another.

Fervent love. fervent. See, this is not some kind of superficial love. Not go-through-the-motions kind of love, not inward-only kind of loving.

It's also not just a sentimental kind of love. This is fervent love that we're to have for one another. fervent, by the way, is the word that means to stretch.

Actually, a better translation would be to strain. That's the idea, to go as far as you can and then a little more.

Stretch and strain in your love. And I think some of us understand that it does take some stretching and straining to love some of us. Somebody say sorry?

Okay, sorry. No need to apologize, Wes. It's easy to love you. But that's really not the idea. It means for all of us, toward each of us, and we reciprocate, we're to love, we're to strain, stretch.

This is sacrificial love that we express for one another. It's a love no matter what the cost. No matter what we have to give up.

No matter how far out of the way we have to go with it. It's also a love regardless of whether or not it's reciprocated. Sometimes it's not.

Isn't that love? Or we love, we strain in our love, sacrificially love a brother or sister, even if that brother or sister returns it with hate or sin.

It's fervent love. Peter said something similar in chapter one of this same letter. In verse 22, he says, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.

Pure heart. And then what he says next is a little unclear. Peter then quotes here Proverbs 10, 12. And it says, for love covers a multitude of sins.

A little unclear exactly what he means. Here's what I think. We don't cover our own sins just because we love our brother or sister.

That is, in the sense that acts of love will somehow atone for our own sins. Cover our own sins. It doesn't mean that. That would contradict many other scriptures.

Also, loving a sinning brother or sinning sister does not cover his or her sin. They must take their sin to the Lord and confess their sin just like you and I must do.

That's not the idea. But rather, when you express this kind of fervent love toward a brother or sister, you are then even willing to forgive and even cover a multitude of sins others have committed against you.

How about if I put it this way? Like a theologian put it. Love hides sin from its own sight.

sight. Does your love for a brother or sister hide their sin from you? In this sense that you are going to love them no matter what?

Love, he said, hides sin from its own sight. Hate does the opposite. it pries about in order to discover some sin or some semblance of sin in a brother or sister and then broadcasts it, even exaggerates it, even gloats over it.

What a distinction between love and hate. And of course, the demonstration of this is what he says in verse 9, just one demonstration, be hospitable, just care for one another, be hospitable, it includes everything, be kind, provide, help, serve, support, be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

Boy, do we need to learn that. So, Jesus' coming is near, Peter says.

It's certainly nearer now than ever before. And so, therefore, pray seriously, love sacrificially. And then, there's a third thing, serve.

Serve spiritually. Verse 10, as each one has received a gift, a gift. This is a special gift, a spiritual gift.

And, certainly, here and other places in the Bible, it's very clear that every member, each and every member of the body of Christ has received a spiritual gift, a grace gift, a divine enablement for the common good of the body of Christ.

Each one of us. In fact, let me just read a passage to you real quickly. First Corinthians 12, 7 says, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.

Manifestation of the Spirit is, these are spiritual gifts. To each one, no one's excluded, and for the profit of all. A little bit later in that same passage, he says, but one, verse 11, but one in the same Spirit works all these things, things he's just mentioned, different gifts, distributing to each one individually as he wills.

That is, as it pleases God. But the point is here that each one of us, every one of us, have received a gift, and so we're to minister it in behalf of one another for the common good of one another.

See, the church is full of spiritual gifts. I'm looking at them right out here. I mean, each one of you have a spiritual gift. Now, whether or not you're using that gift now, that's another matter.

See, the church is not lacking in these gifts. God has so designed it that way and has added to His church in order to give the full complement of the gifts that that church, that body needs.

And God does that. God doesn't fail in that. The church is not lacking in the spiritual gifts. The church is only lacking in those who are willing to look for it in their own lives and willing to minister that gift.

That's what the church is lacking in. But the point is clear, verse 10, as each one, no one excluded, each member of the body, each one has received a gift, not hoping to, not one day will, but has received a gift, therefore minister, minister, and here's a command, minister it to one another.

Work that gift, use that gift for the good of one another. And why should we do that? He says, as good stewards. We want to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Manifold. That means not everybody has the same gift. It's the multifaceted, the variegated grace of God.

You have a gift, you have a gift, you have one, you have one. There may be a couple that have the same gift, but not everybody has the same gift. God has given the full complement of everything we need in order to be a healthy, vibrant, growing church.

And so we're to minister. And then in verse 11, he divides these into two categories and we won't spend time commenting on them, but the two categories are speaking gifts and serving gifts.

Look at verse 11. If anyone speaks, this is a speaking gift, let him speak as the oracles of God, that is the word of God. You don't have anything that you can teach or speak that shouldn't be in perfect line with God's word, the oracles of God.

So if you have a speaking gift, you're a teacher, preacher, then you speak the word of God. And then there are serving gifts, he says there.

If anyone ministers, these are serving gifts, ministering to the body, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies. If you don't do it in the flesh, you don't do it in your own strength, you do it according to the power, the ability that God supplied you so that in all things God would be glorified.

Speaking gifts and serving gifts. So, here's Peter's declaration. Hear it. And heed Peter's instruction. And then one final thing, and we're about finished.

Honor Peter's exaltation. He gives this exaltation. It's almost a doxology at the end of the paragraph. Look at verse 11 again.

That in all things, pay attention to that phrase, all things. We've already seen that before. God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory and the dominion, the absolute sovereign lordship forever and ever.

Amen. This is what it's all coming down to. Amen. But, you know, it's interesting. You might notice that the phrase all things kind of encapsulates the entire paragraph.

We started there in verse 7, and I said that all things refers to God's redemptive purposes, our great salvation in Christ, the end of which, the culmination of which will be the second coming of Christ.

And now here in verse 11, we have all things again, all things bringing full glory to God through His Son, Jesus Christ.

And in between the two, we have our participation in all of that. And pray, love, serve. J.C.

Ryle said this, a holy man or woman will follow after spiritual mindedness.

He or she will endeavor to set affections entirely on things above and to hold things on earth with very loose hands.

He will not neglect the business of the life that now is, but the first place in His mind and thoughts will be given to the life to come.

He will aim to live like one whose treasure is in heaven and to pass through this world like a stranger and pilgrim traveling to his home.

Amen. Amen. Thank you.