Trinity Baptist Church

 

Where you live and when you live should have a great deal to do with how you live. Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and volcanoes all impact our lives depending on where we live. Therefore, knowing that makes a difference in how we live.

 

I am so thankful to live in the day and age when I do. Because of diabetes, had I been born 100 years ago or so, my life would already be over. Therefore, when I live, makes a difference in how I live.

 

Simon Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, makes a very interesting statement in verse 7. He says, "But the end of all things is at hand." You could translate that, "The end of all things is close at hand." It is very near. The wrap up is just ahead. He's referring to the end times. He's referring to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Somebody says, "Simon Peter was mistaken." It's been 2000 years now since Simon Peter said, "The end of all things is at hand, and Jesus is coming." But Jesus Christ still hasn't come. No. Simon Peter was not mistaken. Simon Peter understood history. He knew how to read history.

 

 Simon Peter was living in that period of time when he had witnessed the end of the close of the age of law and the beginning of the age of grace.

 

 

 

 

The age of grace will be characterized by several main events in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnation, the birth of the Lord, which we celebrate now, the crucifixion of our Lord on the cross of Calvary, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as He ascended back into heaven; and the final event, in that combination of circumstances of events, is going to be the return again of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

Simon Peter, knowing about the birth and the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, knew that he was living at the very edge of eternity, right on the verge of the closing era of time. Simon Peter is taking the same position that all Bible writers took.

 

Let me show you a few verses which show you how the New Testament writers viewed the age in which they lived. Simon Peter, in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, said in Acts 2, verse 17, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." 

 

In I Corinthians 10, verse 11, it says, "Now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Hebrews 1, verse 2, says, "Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." Do you see what the Bible says?"

 

Simon Peter is just like all of the other Bible writers. For instance, Paul in Philippians 4, verse 5, says, "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand." James, in James 5, verse 8, says, "Be ye also patient, establish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." 

 

 

John, in I John 2, verse 18, says, "Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, by which we know that it is the last time."

 

The New Testament writers took the same position about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ that we should take. They believed that the return of the Lord was imminent, though not necessarily, immediate. What that means is that it could happen at any moment, though not necessarily immediately. That means that He might not come today. He might come today, but He might not come today. 

 

That's the way you and I should live our lives. We should live in the awareness of the imminence of the coming of the Lord. He could come at any moment. He may not come immediately, but we should be living as if Jesus Christ would come this very day. Is that the way you are living today? Are you living as if Jesus Christ could come at any moment?

 

In II Peter the third chapter, notice verses 3 and 4. He says, "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 

 

In other words he said that there would be people in these last days that will say, "Where is the promise of His coming? We've been hearing that all these years. We've been hearing that Jesus is coming any day now and He hasn't come. Jesus hasn't come; therefore, He is not going to come." 

 

 

Think about the logic of that. He hasn't come; therefore, He's not going to come. That's like somebody saying, "I haven't broken my leg; therefore, I'll never break my leg." 

 

But you will agree with me that whenever the Lord Jesus Christ comes, we are closer today to His coming than we have ever been before.

 

It's kind of the like the old farmer. His grandfather clock went haywire one night and it struck 20 times. He said, "Wake up, Nelly. It's later than it's ever been before." 

 

It is. We are living on the edge of eternity. We are living in the days of the wrap up of all things. Where you live, that is on the edge of eternity, and when you live, at the very closing of the age, should make a difference in how you live. That's what Peter is talking about in these verses.

 

Notice in the rest of verse 7. He says, "Be ye, therefore." What he's saying here, now on the basis of the fact that you and I are living in the age which has witnessed the birth of Jesus, the death of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus, we are right on the very edge to the return of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, on the basis of that, here is the way we should live.

 

It's how we should live our life every day until the Lord takes us home to be with Him or He comes to be with us.

 

Follow carefully with me. I want to talk with you first of all about some implications for our daily life in living in the days of the wrap up.

 

He's saying here that we should live every moment as if Jesus would come the next moment, and there are certain implications for your daily life on the basis of that. He is saying in the rest of verse 7 that we should live our life in a right relationship to our heavenly Father. 

 

He says, "Be ye, therefore, sober, and watch unto prayer." What he's saying is that in these crazy days, the end times in which you and I live, in this wacky world in which you and I are living our existence, the first thing he says is, "Be sober." 

 

He is not talking here about not being inebriated with alcohol. Though there are plenty of those warnings in the Bible. The word here "be sober" means to be of sound mind. It means to stay cool, don't panic. What he's saying is, "Get yourself in a right relationship to God. Don't allow these last days to shake you and to put your life into a frenzy." 

 

We are living in an age where the world seems to be insane and the inmates are running the asylum. People seem to have gone crazy, and God's people need to be sober and sane in these days. The only way to be that way is to stay in a right relationship with your heavenly Father. 

 

"Be sober," he says, "and watch unto prayer." Do you think Simon Peter thought about the words of Jesus when he wrote those words? 

Do you think maybe he thought about the night in Gethsemane when Jesus said, "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation"? Now, Simon Peter recognizes that the only way you can really live the way you should live and stay close to Jesus and be ready for the return of the Lord is to be watching and praying on a daily basis. Are you looking for the Lord to come?

 

He says, "You ought to pray." Prayer is the balance pole that will keep you steady on the tight rope of the world in which you and I live.

 

Have you ever thought what five minutes of prayer can do? You can do a lot of things in five minutes. In five minutes an electrical current can go 6000 times around the globe. In five minutes a ray of light can travel 55.9 million miles. You say, "That's impressive." 

 

But in five minutes it is possible for you to go to the continents of the world and pray for missionaries who are telling people about Jesus. In five minutes you can go past the sun and the moon and the stars into the very presence of God. Oh, what prayer can do! Isn't it a shame we don't pray any more than we do? 

 

There are some implications that have to do with our relationship with our heavenly Father. There are some implications that have to do with our heavenly family. 

 

He says in verse 8, "And above all things," that is, give this priority. Make this a number one item. "Have fervent love among yourselves; for love shall cover the multitude of sins. 

Use hospitality one to another without grudging." Now, he's talking about in these last days how we should live in terms of our relationships to our spiritual family.

 

Your brothers and sisters in Christ are a part of your spiritual family. You belong to a family. You are a member of a family. You are in a church. 

 

I think about all of this family here and he says, "Love one another. Make it your priority to love one another." If you can't love your brothers and sisters in Christ, then how are you going to love lost people? How are you going to love this ungodly world if you can't learn to love God's people? 

 

He said, "Love one another fervently." He talks here about some of the characteristics of love. 

 

For instance, he says that love costs you something. He says to love one another fervently. Do you see that word fervent? Have fervent love. Literally, the word "fervent" means to stretch out. It was the picture of an athlete who was in a race and he was stretching just a little harder, stretching a little more forward to make it to the finish line. What's he's saying is that love needs to have a stretch out quality. Sometimes you have to stretch a little more to love the saints of God.

 

Then he says that love covers. "Love shall cover the multitude of sins." That doesn't mean that we condone the sins of people. It doesn't mean that we condone people in their sin. 

 

 

 

Love does not mean that you condone sin. But he says here that love shall cover a multitude of sins. What that means is that Satan loves to expose.  Hate exposes and love covers. God loves to cover our sins. In other words, He doesn't broadcast our sins. 

 

Sometimes Christians seem to enjoy broadcasting the sins and failures of others. There are some Christians who have appointed themselves a private investigating firm to go around and to pick and to pull and to find the mistakes and the faults of other people. Then they gloat in it and broadcast it and tell everybody, "Did you hear what so and so did?" When you do that you are more like Satan than you are like God because the Bible says, "Love covers a multitude of sins." You don't condone people's sin, but it means that you love them in spite of their sin.

 

That's part of being in the family. Not only does love cost and not only does love cover but love cares. 

 

He says in verse 9, "Use hospitality one to another without grudging." Would you like the King Terry, southern Oklahoma version of that verse? What it's saying there is have people into your house and don't bellyache about it. 

 

Love means that you welcome people into your home and you don't complain about it. You don't fuss about having to cook or you don't fuss about having to clean it up. What it's basically saying is that in these last days as we are close to the wrap up, it's time for us to gear up for the wrap up, and one of the ways you do that is by learning the language of love. 

 

II. The Motivations.

 

Those are the implications of those living right on the edge of the wrap up. But now notice the motivations.   He gives us some motivations beginning in verse 10. There are some things which should motivate us to live the kind of life that God wants us to live.

 

Your motivations are what cause you to do what you do. All of us have motivations. We are motivated by certain things. We do what we do because we are motivated. We are caused to do those things. Your motivations will have a great deal to do with your behavior.

 

He's talking about Christians here and motivations for what you do in your daily life. He says in verse 10, "As every man hath received the gift." 

 

Every man, woman, person, saint of God, has received a gift. He's talking here about the spiritual gifts. It is the Greek word charismata from which we get charismatic. He is talking about the charismatic gifts, the Spirit gifts. You know about it. The Bible says that every believer has one or more spiritual gift. The Bible says that we are to use these gifts to be a blessing to other people.

 

That's really what he says here.   He says in verse 10, "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister," that is, serve, "the same one to another." Use your spiritual gift to be a blessing to other people.

 

 

 

Spiritual gifts are not toys to play with. They are not swords to fight with. They are tools to build with and they are instruments to bless with. 

 

He says that you have received a spiritual gift. That means that everybody in the congregation has some spiritual gift they can use for the good of others and for the glory of God. 

 

He says, "Minister the same one to another, as good stewards." In those days they had stewards in homes. The purpose of those stewards was to administrate the affairs of a household. The person who owned the household would put into the hand of the steward the properties and the facilities of the household, and it was the steward's responsibility to minister them and to see that they were used properly. 

 

God is saying, "I've given you certain things you can do to be a blessing. Use those things to be a blessing to others." He says, "As good stewards of the manifold grace of God." The word "manifold" means many colored. What he's saying is that God gives these grace gifts, these spiritual gifts, and as we use them, if every member does what God has gifted them to do in the fellowship, then the church becomes a beautiful rainbow, a multicolored rainbow, of the grace of God.

 

He breaks it down for us in verse 11. He says first of all there are speaking gifts. It says in verse 11, "If any man speak." Then he says, "If any man minister." There are some gifts that are speaking gifts. I preach. That's a speaking gift. These people sing. That's a speaking gift. 

 

Some of you teach Bible classes. That's a speaking gift. Others of you counsel. That's a speaking gift. Some of you are especially gifted in words of encouragement.

 

He said, "If you speak," but he says, "If you minister, if you serve." Some of you have serving gifts. Some of you can cook a meal and take it to a shut in. Some of you can write a letter that will be a blessing to some one. Use that serving gift.

 

Notice what he says, "Do it as of the ability which God giveth." Do it with the strength that God supplies.

 

In those days, that word "God gives," we translate it God supplies, was used of a man who would underwrite the expenses of the city chorus. What he's saying is that God will give you the spiritual strength to use what He has gifted you to do for the good of other people.

 

Look for ways that you can be a blessing to others. 

Do something for somebody who can't give you anything in return, who can't pay you back. Do it for the good of others.

 

Then notice what he says in verse 11. "That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ." Do it for the glory of God. I love to study that word "glory." It is one of the great words of the Bible. I don't have time to go into it, but if you will live your life every day to the glory of God and say, "God, today I want You to get the glory in my life. Lord, every word I speak today I want You to be glorified. Every deed I do today I want You to be glorified.

 

I want the people around me to get a little glimpse of God by the way I live and by the way I act as I gear up for the wrap up." 

 

Peter says, "The end of all things is just around the corner." The wrap up is near. You are living on the edge of eternity. Where you live and when you live should make a difference in how you live.

 

In 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted. There was an old recluse up there named Harry Truman who lived on the edge of Mount St. Helen. They tried their best to get the old guy to evacuate. He wouldn't do it. They warned him. They went to him. They did everything in their power to get him to leave where he lived on the edge of Mount St. Helen and he wouldn't do it. Then Mount St. Helen blew. He's never been heard of again.

 

We should so live and so labor and so love that others are helped and God is glorified. 

 

If you knew that at twelve o'clock this Sunday, January 11, Jesus Christ would return again and the end of all things would be wrapped up, would it make any difference in how you live your life and what you would do between now and then?

 

Let's bow our heads and pray.