 Today we're in chapter four here in the book of 1 Peter. We're going to look at verses seven through nine And so let's begin reading together in first Peter chapter four at verse seven I'll read to verse nine and we'll get into our study first Peter chapter four verses seven through nine The Apostle Peter writes but the end of all things is at hand 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 And so as we've been looking at first Peter the Apostle has already mentioned the fact that he's writing to a church or churches That are undergoing persecution and he's been exhorting the believers to remain steadfast in the face of opposition In order to establish why that is an important thing to do He's already spoken of how Jesus himself Suffered on our behalf if you look real briefly into chapter two for a moment verses 20 and 21 I'd refresh your memory by drawing your attention to those verses where it says for what credit is it if When you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently But when you do good and suffer for it if you take it patiently this is commendable before God For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow his steps So he's already pointed out that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered on our behalf and therefore we should follow his example By following his example one who's already suffered on our behalf This will enable us to endure our times of pain and our times of suffering and the variety of things that we go through as believers The times when people speak Poorly of us they gossip about us or the times that they they confront us to our face Or even the times that you may have a physical attack that takes place because of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ He's saying what we as believers are intended to do is just continue in doing good But also to look back at what Jesus Christ has done for us He is our example and therefore we ought to follow his example completely Jesus Strengthens us and gives us the power to endure our times of pain It reminds me of what the writer in Hebrews had in chapter 12 in the book of Hebrews verse 2 Where he's speaking there in verses 1 and 2 as if the Christian life is a race and He says in verse 2 looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him Endured the cross the spicing the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God And so he's saying as if we're running a race the course is set before us and we're running it with endurance And as we do so There's a finish line that that we can see and the finish line he's speaking about is Jesus himself We're looking unto Jesus. He's the one that we're running towards during this race and as we're running in this race We're gonna run without distraction The only thing that should be before us is the finish line So he's saying that that if we're going to be successful in our life and Endure the suffering that we sometimes will find ourselves in We need to make sure that we take our eyes off ourselves We need to take our eyes off of our circumstances our needs and we need to look unto him And the reason we do so is because Jesus is referred to as the author and the finisher of our faith The word author speaks of him being the originator of our faith and the finisher speaks of him being the one who brings it into maturity and completeness And therefore without looking at distractions around us Even when we're reviled even when people are are speaking ill of us to our faces or or behind our back Or when they're hurting us even when they're doing those things We're looking beyond what is it we're experiencing at that moment looking past it because we're enduring it because of the joy That is set before us. That's what he had said who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame So Jesus endured the agony of the cross because he had the joy finishing his course He knew he would finish his course. He also knew he'd obtained salvation and he was going home And so that should be our motivation that we should be pleasing to him. What do I run for? Why am I in this race and what is the prize? Well, the prize isn't heaven because heaven is really my home. It became my home when I got saved Living in heaven is actually a gift. It's an inheritance. It's not a prize that is won by trying hard Paul said in Philippians 3 20 and 21 our citizenship is in heaven and from it We await a savior the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power That enables him even to subject all things to himself Heaven is our home What I'm running for is the joy of glorifying God by being faithful to him and that's why we remain steadfast in the face of Suffering and that's why Peter had already said in verse 1 that we're to arm ourselves with the same mind that Jesus had What we do is we have a willingness to suffer while doing the will of God Because in that way God refines our faith and he grows up grows us up as believers That knowledge is something precious to us, but isn't always understood by those who don't know the Lord And so we've already seen those verses and he's continuing that thought into verse 7 here in first Peter chapter 4 By saying but the end of all things is at hand Therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers So remain steadfast the end is coming the end of all things When he speaks of the end the end is a word that refers to the result or the goal It's it's the end of some condition some state of being and what he's saying is that things are going to conclude and it's going to conclude soon and Therefore when Jesus returns we ought to look to him because we're going to one day be with him So if Jesus is returning how then should we live? Well, we should live as if we believe that Jesus is returning that is actually returning to planet earth now When I first got saved People were speaking about the fact that Jesus promised to return It isn't something that was invented in you know the 1800s 1900s It's it's something that we find in Scripture. Jesus made those promises in John 14 for example verses 1 through 3 Jesus said let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house There are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go and prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I'll come again receive you into myself that where I am there you may be also I will come again and receive you into myself That's a promise from the Lord Jesus taught that while he was still alive on the face of the earth And he says I'm going to return and so he gave us the promise of his return Not only that Jesus speak concern is returned But angels reminded us of his return because in Acts chapter 1 after that Jesus had spoken to his disciples And he had said you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem Judea Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth After speak to them concerning the power that God would give to them so that they could be witnesses to him The next thing we see in verse 9 is that after he said this he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud Hit him from their sight They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going when suddenly two men dressed and wide stood beside them Men of Galilee. They said why do you stand here looking into the sky? The same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way You have seen him go into heaven So the promise was Jesus saying I will come in and receive you unto myself the angels reminded the disciples and This promise is something that is referred to throughout the New Testament The return of the Lord Jesus Christ is intended to stir us with an expectation that results in righteous living If Jesus is really returning then it ought to stir us to live in a certain way Romans 13 12 says the night is far spent the day is at hand Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light So the return of Christ can happen at any moment and therefore we should be ready at any moment in First Thessalonians 4 16 and 17 it says the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout With the voice of the archangel with the trumpet call of God First the Christians who have died will rise from their graves Then together with them we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet The Lord in the air then we will be with the Lord forever The Lord promises to return for us. It's a hope of the church. It's the expectation of believers He said he could return in the next prophecy on God's calendar to be fulfilled Is the rapture of the church for us to be gone and to be with him This is something that was poured into me from the day I got saved one of my friends George Adams I've shared this with you before but George Adams at that time was living in expectation of the soon return of Christ And he basically drummed that into me Jesus is returning you ought to live as if you expect him to return today And I can still remember as I've shared with you before how that one day he and I were driving to the store Pulled out of the driveway drove up to a stop sign I took a left turn as I took a left turn my passenger side door swung open when the door opened up George you always had his Bible on him and had his Bible on his lap when the door swung open George leaned out with both of his hands over his head holding the Bible And I slammed on the brakes and I said what are you doing? And he said I thought the rapture happened and Jesus is a gentleman and he opened my door for me I'll never forget that that was his expectation and the second thought to me was why was my door left closed? You know I I'm not quite sure how that works, but that was the expectation. That's what we were trained in That's what the Bible teaches. I will come again receive you into myself there where I am there You may be also men of Galilee. Why are you looking up into the sky? Jesus said he'd return even as you saw him go. How should we live? We ought to live lives in preparation We ought to be live living lives that are that really act as if we believe that that Jesus Christ Actually is coming back for us. The end of all things is at hand. How am I to live? Well, I'm to be serious. I'm to be watchful. I'm to be prayerful I'm to live in such a way as it demonstrates that I actually believe that the Lord is coming Now when he speaks about us being serious and watchful in our prayers to be serious-minded Speaks of exercising self-control in my life The return of Jesus isn't intended to make me into a date setter or a disaster hound It's intended to encourage me to patiently wait for him to be prepared that I might see him You see the Bible speaks concerning the church as if the church is the bride of Christ Paul speaks of himself as a father who has espoused his virgin bride to the husband And therefore he has a protective interest for this virgin bride who will one day be married to the husband And he tells us in Ephesians 5 that the husband is Jesus himself And so we the church the body of Christ are called by various metaphors in scripture But one is called the bride of Christ and the Bible teaches us that we are to be prepared to meet him And therefore we make ourselves prepared through the works that we do that demonstrate that we anticipate being with him I've done a lot of weddings in my day and I can tell you this the brides always are ready They're always prepared. I mean when they come marching down that that this is our way here come from those two double doors in the back and that music starts You know in the wedding March begins dumb dumb dumb dumb for the husband to be the victim The door swing open and here comes the death mark. I mean the a bridal March She always looks good. She always looks beautiful. The bride has prepared herself. She's ready. She's meeting her husband It's her day. She always looks good. You know you ladies who are married, you know, that's true You went out you found a dress to get married in a nice dress a beautiful dress a dress You spent a lot of money or your parents did or whomever a lot of money on Bought that dress you bought a dress maybe a little smaller than what you usually wear because it's your wedding day And you could always let it out a little bit if you don't meet your goal But you bought that dress now husbands are different we rent a tuxedo that should tell you something about our commitment But that's a different story You bought that dress a beautiful dress You got the veil or whatever it is that you wanted and the music plays and the people stand in the doors spring open And there you come down that aisle and your husband up here aka victim is standing here watching and as he sees you coming up There's tears in his eyes and and everybody's you know, just all it's you prepared yourself You got ready You didn't come out all messed up. That's the next day you came out looking good You came out looking fine, didn't you because it's your day your hair is done up the makeup just right the dress everything It's perfect Why because you took the time to prepare yourself because you're meeting your groom and you wanted to be prepared We can take that and use that as an illustration in our life. How then should we live? What should we be like we should be prepared? We should be ready We want to see him Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure we're told in 1st John 3 3 Not only are we serious-minded, but we're also Going to be prayerful. We're gonna be watchful. We're calm and collected as we wait We're people of prayer depending on God waiting for him to deliver us in mark 13 33 through 37 It says take heed watch and pray for you do not know when the time is It's like a man going to a far country who left this house and gave authority to his servants and to each his work and commanded the doorkeeper to watch And therefore watch For you do not know when the master of the house is coming in the evening at midnight at the crowing of the rooster Or in the morning unless coming suddenly he finds you sleeping what I say to you I say to all watch That's why he says be serious be watchful and be prayerful wait it on the Lord who's to come Now in the midst of all this persecution and trying times that the believers are going through The apostle needs to encourage them to make it through by keeping their eyes on Jesus Christ Now as they keep their eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, they also have duties They are responsibilities that they are enacting as a as they're on planet earth They're there the church of the body of Christ. How is the body of Christ to act? What is going to sustain them during the times of persecution and trying times? What is it going to be that I need to keep me strong? Well, he says in verse 8 and above all things have fervent love for one another for love will cover a multitude of sins Under persecution they're going under persecution. So under persecution It's easy to begin caring more about your own needs under trying times It's easier for you to begin caring for your own needs your own wants Your family's needs and so he's saying listen You're supposed to have fervent love for one another and this is above all things Because love is a supreme virtue Love is the identifying mark of a genuine believer of Jesus Christ A new commandment give I unto you that you love one another as I have loved you By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another The Bible makes it very clear greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends The Lord Jesus Christ made it very clear that that we are to love one another and you find that throughout the scripture Colossians 3 14 says above all clothe yourselves with love which binds us together in perfect harmony The body of Christ is one body and therefore the body is knit together in the love of God and During times of hardship and persecution rather than caring simply for our own needs We care for the needs of other people. That's what he's called us to do in 1st John 4 7 The scripture says beloved let us love one another for love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God He goes on to say he who loves not knows not God for God is love It is the identifying mark of the believer This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you Jesus said in John 15 12 And so the Lord has called us to have love and it's not just this sentimental emotional But he says above all things have fervent love a fervent love That fervent love isn't an option It's central to our faith and it identifies us as believers This love is one that is passionate and strong He's already spoken of loving in a fervent fashion and that word fervency speaking of its intensity Speaks of it being a maximum effort and in other words put all your effort into this one thing That is to love one another He's already spoken of that kind of love in chapter 1 verse 22 when he said love one another fervently So make maximum effort to truly care about one another Your faith is going to be stretched to the limit To love in spite of insults in spite of injury In spite of misunderstandings Boy is that a message that the church is in need of remembering in these last days We live in such a fragmented society don't we we live in a society that Well that that families break up very easily and very quickly Promises that were made to love and cherish forever until death parts us Are just words that are spoken in front of people On that occasion but not necessarily that which rules our life and rules our marriages Some people look at marriage as if it's something that you While you have a start-up marriage you try it if it works out fine If it doesn't you can always start again with somebody else with the lessons that you've learned and that's the mentality That many people have brought into their marriages sadly they They break one another's hearts and then they break the hearts of the children that they abandon as they pursue their own courses of happiness The children who are raised in homes that have been busted up like that Don't really understand what love is they don't know what men really are They don't know what that men are supposed to keep their promises They don't know that wives are supposed to keep their promises. They simply know that these two didn't So they grow up in a in a home that has been fragmented and it's very sad and it's painful and this is no judgment It's just a fact. It's a reality That's true A lot of broken hearts a lot of broken hearted children a lot of anger that continues throughout not only childhood But into adulthood a lack of trust for one another a lack of willingness to to pour out or fervently pursue because We've seen that That love can hurt sometimes at least that's how we have interpreted love. It's a hurtful thing not necessarily something That's a healing thing So hearts are broken And we're afraid to unite with people. We're afraid to unite even with those who are closest to us We're afraid to disclose ourselves. We're afraid to Bear our souls. We're afraid to trust and hold nothing back And then you get saved and you get into a church and you hear messages about loving fervently the maximum effort and And you do your best to do that, but you never really seemed to think that You've ever really grabbed hold of that message. What does it mean to love fervently? You know, I can speak to a left side of the audience and I can speak to the right side of the audience And the right side of the church here may never meet the person on the left side of the church Never has opportunity or ever takes opportunity to We can actually segmentize ourselves into the preferential seating that we are disposed to So I choose to sit here and they choose to sit there Never the two shall meet. So how is it work in love? And what does it mean to fervently love one another when you're really strangers in reality? Well, you make a maximum effort You get involved you serve You get to know people You reach out across the aisle You know the times when when we say, okay, take the hand of the person next to you And that's the only time somebody's actually had somebody else hold their hand in the whole week It's the first time somebody actually reached down and touched them because they live alone They're by themselves constantly nobody ever reaches out and touches them at all So for them, it's a great thing for you. It may be an uncomfortable thing But for others it's something that that matters because this is human contact I haven't really had this And it's nice to have even if it's just for a moment And even if it's simply to remind me that I actually am part of something much bigger than my individual life love Love one another fervently I ask the lord, can you please help me to understand what that means lord to have a passion and intensity to stretch out to the limit What does that really mean and and you know what the lord did he brought to mind something that I see I see all the time He brought to me To my mind the love that my son david has for his daughter bella My little bella is a bella bella Turned three years old on the 28th of august three years old and You know as she became three, you know, naturally there's all the the honor given to this Three-year-old and so we went to chuckie cheese I only go for bella and my grandchildren. I wouldn't go for anything anything else So you know rats singing scare me but anyway Chuckie cheese And she had her little party and she was the guest of honor along with another little Child that was having their birthday there and the singing and all of that and it was a lot of fun for her But then again, she had to have another little get together and finally she had another get together And by then she was kind of tired of all of her parties and this and that and she's already partied herself to death She's three years old, you know and yet All this love and everything. I was watching my son david. I couldn't help but notice And and I spoke to him and I've told him this but I'll say it openly to you You know in my life a lot of people know that david rosales loves his wife and loves his children Everybody who knows me knows that's true, but I told my son david You know what you put me to shame when it comes to loving a baby My son david loves that little girl with an intensity And a passion and a maximum effort that I have never seen in another man in my entire life, including myself I have never seen that kind of devotion that kind of love that kind of sacrifice that kind of willingness As I've seen in my son with this little girl I am so in the lord proud of that young man for that love he has for her And god used him as an example to me of what it means to love with passion and to the maximum effort Because that's what he does. He loves that baby. There's nothing that he wouldn't do for her that is good for her He would give up anything for her. He does everything for her. He loves her and the lord was saying that's an example of love Why don't you see it and use it yourself? Why don't you learn to love like that? Because that to me has been a living epistle That's watching this man raising this little girl He's a single father watching him with he and his friend his girlfriend Who's a loving woman by the way and loves her baby too But I see david with with bella more than I see His girlfriend with her and I'll have to tell you It touches my heart to see that to see god's love through my son What an example to me what a fervency that he has and that's what the lord has called me to God has called me to love with a fervency You see when you love with that kind of love you actually will overlook certain things. It says love will cover a multitude of sins When you have a great love for for somebody then the petty annoyances and the various things that can destroy relationship are dealt with They aren't so large. It turns out. They're not that big a deal You actually are able to go through those things and these differences are kept at a minimum And what he's telling us to do is to choose to love because love preserves the unity of the body of christ So resist the the the temptation to become petty and self centered I've had people who've been upset at me because I didn't hug them. I didn't even see them But they've been angry at me You didn't hug me and they left the church and they let me know of how unloving I am I'm unloving that's true, but I didn't see them And and and we can be petty and we can get upset and we can make issues over things that just do not matter You see in persecution The fact is is these people had something going in their life that was a lot more important They were surviving and when you're surviving then the petty things that would normally cause Discord are dealt with and that's why he says love covers a multitude of sin It's not that love is going to forgive sin. It's not he's not saying that that you ignore it He's he's saying in relationship between me and somebody else He's saying that my love for that person is going to give me the opportunity to overlook the things that have been done Yes, we deal with the sin. We deal with issues, but it doesn't divide us And and in my relationship with somebody I have to love them enough to allow them to be human beings Not only that he goes on to say in verse 9 be hospitable to one another without grumbling Now under moses's law the jews were to be gracious to strangers. They were to be hospitable In deuteronomy 10 19 it says therefore love the stranger you were strangers in the land of egypt So this concern for others is to be out of a love for people So be so be concerned for other people have a hospitable heart be generous in your spirit once again My david I'm using him as an example again because he's been a good lesson to me He was around four or five years old. We had gone to To uh ensenada to do some ministry I took my family with me On our way home. We stopped in tijuana as we were there in tijuana We started walking and the kids had never been there So we're just walking in this one area and as we were walking david was next to me as he always was And as we were walking we walked by a lady and I noticed that david was looking at this lady because the lady was seated With her back against the wall. She was holding a baby. She had a can in front of her and she needed help And as we walked by I was watching my son and as I watched my son I watched him look at the lady and and to be honest with you we kept walking As we kept walking we got to a corner which was about 20 yards from where the lady was seated We crossed the street Then we began to make our way back down the other side towards in the same direction where this lady was And all this time I'm watching my son as he keeps looking back. We crossed the street I could see him looking towards her We crossed and started walking again and he's still looking in her direction And finally I stopped directly across from this woman and I stopped and I said to my son david David what's wrong? You're not happy You're sad, aren't you? And he looks at me and he said yes daddy and I said why? I said is it because of that lady with that baby and she needs help And he said yes dad And I said do you want to help her Dave? And he said yes So I put my hand in my wallet pulled out some money handed it to him and I said go give her something So he goes running up to the corner crosses the street crosses runs and I see him put this money in her hand He comes running back with the biggest smile in his face And the lord spoke to my heart To this day Spoke to my heart He said that's the heart that you're supposed to have A heart that sees pain and wants to help be hospitable It's easy to walk past be hospitable Care for those in need remember who you are and where you've come from don't forget When you have a brother in the context you have a brother or a sister who's in need A genuine need and their persecution was causing them to lose everything He said take care of them and do so without grumbling Without grumbling because you can do something good, but under your breath saying man Why do I have to do this again? Where's somebody else? How come they caught me? You know, you can grumble over that Again, my david is very generous. He's so generous. He'd give everything I own away if you could He's the kind of kid that when his friends would come over He'd go running up to the to the cupboard and open it up and he'd say do you want something friend Do you want something to eat and he'd pull things out daddy? Can you make this soup for them? I mean he was just that way. He'd give away my house if he could, you know, very generous But that's what he's talking about. I have a hospitable heart and don't crumble about it Don't be making issues over it. Don't be upset about it You need to have an attitude that goes beyond Just self satisfaction it needs to go beyond that And that attitude goes beyond providing food or a place to stay because what you do is you give out of a sincere heart You need to have a generous spirit that's grounded in the love of god and the love for others Hebrews 13 16 says do not forget to do good and to share for with such sacrifices. God is well Pleased as much as lies within you do good unto all men, especially to the household of faith. Paul told the Galatians Have a heart to give have a heart to care Have a heart that loves Be hospitable without rumbling Have a fervent love because love covers a multitude of sin Have an expectation because the lord jesus christ is returning and therefore be watchful And therefore be prayerful And be ready Because he's even at the door And love is that which cements us together Love makes it possible for us to withstand persecution Love enables us to live in harmony Even again as it says in Colossians 3 14 cloth yourselves with love which binds us together in perfect harmony It's the love of god the love of the spirit the love for one another the love that came from god That is extended to other people that god honors And in doing so the church will have an impact in a world that doesn't even think that jesus is returning But we know that he is he's even at the door and his reward is with him and one of these days before too long That trumpet will sound the voice of the archangel will ring out And we will be with him to behold his face forever and ever and ever In unity with him in love with him in a home prepared especially for us And it comes because we had faith in jesus christ He held fast to us and we held fast to him Love one another Fervently