Please turn with me in your Bibles to the first letter of Peter, chapter four. First Peter, chapter four, in verse 10. 1 Peter 4, verse 10, as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. And our subject this evening is stewarding God's gifts, stewarding God's gifts. Well, we continue in the first letter of Peter, our series, of course, and well we considered last week the verses at the beginning of the chapter which challenged us in many ways and the great theme was of course suffering and even the blessing of suffering and the blessing of suffering how can we be blessed in suffering Well, because it shows if we suffer that we identify with Christ, that we are truly the Lord's people. He is the one, of course, who suffered the most on earth, suffered the most in eternity. We could even say bearing upon himself the punishment for millions of his people on the cross of Calvary. He has suffered so much and yet he never sinned. he never did anything wrong and so we are called in this letter in the previous chapter also to follow that example if Christ suffered we shall also suffer and we will suffer wrongfully We will suffer even when we have not done anything wrong, because again, that is how Christ suffered, a sinless savior, yet he was persecuted, he was targeted, he suffered. And so if we suffer, well, we identify with Christ. It shows that we are true believers. And it shows, as the Apostle Peter was mentioning in the early part of chapter 4, it shows too that we have repented. Suffering shows that we have repented. We are not those who live lives of ease, or lives satisfying our carnal appetites. The Apostle Peter contrasts the will of believers and the suffering of believers with the will of the Gentiles in verse 3. How do the Gentiles or the unbelievers live? Well, they walk in lasciviousness, in lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries. They feed their appetites. They are greedy. They have no self-control at all. They don't suffer. That's the opposite of suffering. Banquetings, revelings, that's the opposite of suffering. That's, I don't want to suffer at all. I'm going to give full vent to my lusts and my passions. That's the opposite of us. We suffer. We do not spend or live the rest of our time in the flesh to the lusts of men. We are the opposite. We are temperate. We are self-controlled. And the Apostle Peter will go on to raise that point again in our time this evening. We shall see that. and these were very challenging, but this was the great theme. He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. And you will recall what was mentioned, he that hath suffered in the flesh, well when we suffer it is in a sense the opposite of sin. sin when we seek after ease when we seek after fleshly pleasures and so on that is heading in the way of sin but suffering suffering draws us away from the world away from sin and nearer to god and this is why of course the lord sends trials and tribulations so that we are weaned away from the world and closer to God. He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin." Suffering, it inclines us in the opposite way. And well, this is the way it is for believers. This is the portion for believers. And this is how we differ from Gentiles. but then we come to verse 7 where we left off and these words well they are again exhorting us to temperance and self-control verse 7 but the end of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer the end of all things is at hand now we instantly think when we read those words of the very end of time. The end of things, of all things, is at hand. Christ, we know, shall return, and that will most certainly be the end of all things. And it is always presented to us in the Scriptures as something that will come quite soon. Christ is coming quickly. Christ is coming suddenly. He will suddenly appear. And so in that sense, the end of all things is at hand. Of course, the gospel age has lasted for over 2,000 years, or well, just under 2,000 years, you should say. But this is how it is presented to us in the scriptures. The end of all things is at hand. 2,000 years is not a long time in the sight of God. And so in the sight of God, we are always very near to the very end of time. The end of all things is at hand. This world will be done away with. This world will be brought to an end. And when we know this, When a Christian knows and understands this, well, this is to affect his behavior. This is to affect him. But the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. The end of all things is at hand. This ought to excite us to holiness. When we know that there is not much time left, when we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming, well, this ought to have a great impact on us. Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. By the way, this is to have a holy impact on us. Soberness, prayer, these are holy things. I'll talk about those things in just a few moments, but notice how this would contrast with the unbeliever. When the unbeliever knows that he is coming to the end of his life, he will more than often go out and party and do wild things and live sinfully. That is how he will react. That is how the unbeliever, the Gentile, as it is written here, If they know that their end is nigh, well, they will throw all caution to the wind and they will simply indulge in even greater excess when an unbeliever knows that he's coming to the end. But when we know that we are coming to the end, the end of all things, well, we must therefore be sober and watch unto prayer. We must live holy lives. And there are similar thoughts in 2 Peter If you turn just over the page, 2 Peter chapter 3, this is mentioned. 2 Peter 3, verse 13, Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. This is what happens at the end of time, of course. Christ will come, there's a new heaven and a new earth, a place of righteousness, where only righteous people will dwell, the children of God, And so how is this to affect us? Verse 14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, ye know that the end is coming, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. So here it is again, the end is coming and that ought to have a holy impact on our lives. We ought to aim for that righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ will come, the new heavens and the new earth will come wherein dwelleth righteousness, and so we are to aim for that righteousness in our lives. We are to conform ourselves to that time, to that eternal age, so that when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, Well, we will love his appearing. We won't dread his appearing. Sadly, there are some people, even amongst Christians, they seem to dread the appearing of the Lord. But if we live in righteousness, if we let this affect us, if we know that there is this wonderful, eternal, righteous age coming, and we let that influence us, Well, then we will be blessed. We will love the appearing of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This is how we are to live. So we don't let temporal things affect us. We're not tossed to and fro by the circumstances of this life and all the changes of this world and the governments of this world and the economies of this world. They don't change us and affect us. They don't determine how we live. It's the world to come that determines how we live. That's what determines how we live. There is a fixed outcome, an eternal outcome that will never change, that cannot change, and we let that determine us and define us. Not the things of this world, not the culture of this world, It's that new heaven and that new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. So this is what we are to do. The end of all things is at hand. Eternity. Christ. Therefore, we must be sober and watch unto prayer. We must be sober. Well, again, this is keeping in the theme of being self-controlled, of being temperate, not indulging our lusts, not getting carried away. We must be those who are able to control ourselves. Be sober. But also, soberness means other things, of course. Sober means being serious. We are serious people generally. Yes, there is a place for humor and enjoying each other's company and fellowship and so on with humor. But generally speaking, we are serious people. serious. We don't get bogged down with trivial things, with things that don't really matter. This can be a great temptation even for Christians. We can get caught up in things that don't really matter, that are so very trivial, that have no long-term impact at all. There are the, well, there's the football tournament going on at this present time. And sometimes Christians can be caught up so much in those things and follow each and every game and even give up the Lord's Day to watch matches and so on. These are trivial things. We are more serious than that. We take our religion, our faith, we take Christ more seriously than that. We're sober, we're not carried away with all the things that the world is carried away with and celebrate and so on. We are sober people. We're not drunken with the atmosphere of the world around us. So in that sense, we are sober. We don't get too downhearted. When things go wrong, that's an aspect of being sober. When things go wrong, people can get so down and so distressed and depressed. We have to be sober. We have to think about eternity. We have to think about the Lord Jesus Christ will very soon come and our sufferings will be nothing compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us. We don't get too cast down. We are sober. We know that the Lord is coming. So we don't get too depressed. We don't, by the way, get too carried away when things go well either. That's something that we don't do. We are always sober and having that self-control. So this is what it is to be sober. Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. Watch unto prayer. in keeping with the theme of soberness, prayer, constant prayer, will keep you sober. Constant prayer keeps you sober. Again, when things happen to us, we so easily get overwhelmed and bowled over, and yet when we come to the Lord in prayer, then we have a better perspective on things. It almost sobers us up. We get so worried, so full of anxiety. We don't know what to do. We come to the Lord. It's like he sobers us up. And we are made to feel lighter and to feel blessed. Prayer, watch unto prayer. Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. And so of course, well, it's an opportunity to examine ourselves. How often do we pray? Do we pray as often as we ought to? We're called to pray without ceasing. Prayer is not just praying in the morning and in the evening, although that's good. Of course, we must do that. Begin the day with prayer. That's the best foundation for your day, of course it is. But praying without ceasing, praying throughout the day. You don't have to have your hands together and your eyes closed to pray. I know that's a good way of doing it. but praying throughout the day when challenges come, when temptations come, praying without ceasing, praying that at no time in this day will I dishonor my Lord. Lord, help me not to sin. If this person says something, help me not to sin. When I go to this place, praying, watching unto prayer, Because we never know when the end of all things will be at hand, when the Lord Jesus Christ will come, or even how long we have left. Spiritual prayers, of course, we ought to mention. Prayers with that eye to eternity. Prayer with an eye acknowledging that the end is near. Pray for souls. Pray for souls, those kingdom prayers. We, of course, are entitled to pray for temporal blessings for things on this earth. But the apostle has just said that we ought to be affected by the end of all things, how the end is coming. And does that affect our prayers? The end is coming very soon. Are we praying for people who are lost? Are we praying for greater opportunities? Are we praying for greater outreach. The end is coming very soon. We have unsaved friends, unsaved relatives. We must watch unto prayer. Let your prayers be influenced and affected by the fact that Christ is returning very soon. That must be our great priority. Watch unto prayer. Help me to be a better witness. Help me to be somebody who is more zealous in presenting Christ. And by the way, we should pray that more people are prayerful. That more people are prayerful. Particularly as we see the day approaching. It seems that the closer we get to the end of time, It seems less people are actually praying. The church seems to have abandoned prayer. And the prayer meeting is the one that is the least thought of and the worst attended. Nobody really wants to pray. People think it's a waste of their time. They'll come to the Bible study, they'll come to the services, but they won't come to the prayer meeting. We ought to pray that more people have a heart for prayer. And then we will see greater blessing. So many people though, they'll complain that the church is not being blessed and the church is struggling here and the church is struggling there, but nobody's going to pray for it. How many people do we have in the prayer meeting? We must have more. Be ye therefore sober, watch unto prayer. That is the instruction of the apostle, because the end of all things is at hand, and then, well, our opportunity for prayer will be gone. So this is the exaltation. And verse eight, and above all things, we're almost running out of time. Above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Fervent charity. What is that? Well, we know that charity can be translated love, and it perhaps would be better to use that word here. Above all things have fervent love among yourselves. Sincere love, warm love, not feigned love. It has to be sincere. Sincere love, generous love, hospitable love. The apostle is going to speak about hospitality in the next verse. But this is what we are to aim for. Have fervent charity, love among yourselves. And again, this is with a view that the end of all things is at hand. Those of us who are believers, well, we will spend eternity with one another. The end of all things is at hand. Eternity is at hand. We will be with each other for all eternity. We'll be gloriously and happily blessed. But knowing these things, knowing that we will be together forever, well, should we not improve our relationships with one another while we are here? Let eternity influence your behavior. No grudges. As far as you can, no discord, no opposition. Above all things, you will be together forever. Have fervent charity among yourselves, a strong love. For charity shall cover the multitude of sins. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't mean that your own sins, you'll make up your own sins if you love people more. It doesn't mean that. Sometimes, I think the Roman Catholic Church used to use it in that sense. If you just love people and do good deeds, well that will cover your sins, cover the multitude of your sins. That's not really how we are to look at it. What it means is this. Charity, when we love one another, well, we will overlook, we will overlook the sins of others. When we love one another, we will overlook their imperfections. We won't be constantly getting irritated. We could, if we wanted to, if we were not loving, we could be irritated with one another every day and say, you said this and you said that, and be rowing with one another. But if we truly love one another, charity among ourselves, we overlook these things. It's like your sins are covered. yes we know that we we uh we irritate one another and we rub each other up in the wrong way and these things they they can be so trying but charity love well it covers the multitude of sins we are willing to overlook them as far as we can we don't by the way overlook them uh to uh to bring dishonor to the Lord. There are some things, of course, some faults in people that we have to correct and rebuke. But generally speaking, we are kind, we are gracious. If we love one another, it covers the multitude of sins. We're not constantly thinking ill of each other and carping at each other and shouting at each other. Charity shall cover the multitude of sins. And this is how we are to be with one another. And verse nine, use hospitality one to another without grudging. Well, again, this is something that is a great show of love. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. We read in Hebrews chapter 13, that when we show hospitality, we may entertain angels unawares. Hebrews 13 verse 2, be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Well, again, we haven't got much time to go through this, but our thoughts immediately turn to Abraham in the book of Genesis. when he entertained strangers, and they actually were angels. They were angels, three men. And well, what happened when he showed hospitality to those men? Well, actually, let's turn to it just quickly, rather than me speaking about it. It's in Genesis 18. And we'll just close with this to encourage us to hospitality. Genesis 18, this is Abraham entertaining three angels. And well, one is a theophany, of course. Chapter 18, verse 1. And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day, and he lift up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground. This is Abraham. and said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts. After that ye shall pass on, for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the tent. So Abraham He showed hospitality to these three men. He was entertaining angels unaware. But look at the blessing that came, of course. Verse nine, and they said unto him, where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life. And lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Because Abraham extended this hospitality, because he welcomed these men into his home, there was tremendous and unexpected blessing. That's the simplest lesson we can take from this. He entertained angels unawares. And there was a wonderful blessing, a surprising blessing for him. And so this is how we are to approach hospitality. We can so often believe and think that hospitality, welcoming people into our home, is such a burden and is such a struggle to us. And yet the Lord says, if you exercise this, if you are inclined to this, you will be surprised at the blessings that you will receive. It will be a blessing to you. It will be a blessing to your home. It will be a blessing to the church. Hospitality. And so it's nothing to be afraid of. there will be wonderful things in store for you. So use hospitality one to another without grudging, without murmuring, in other words, willingly, not reluctantly, cheerfully, even, and the words really refer to believers, yes, but strangers, those who we don't know, but we are willing to extend that hospitality to them without grudging. But these things, well, without grudging, just finally, this is how we are to approach the whole of the Christian life. All these things that we have mentioned here, being sober, being self-controlled, being temperate, watching unto prayer, having fervent charity among ourselves, having hospitality. They must all be done without murmuring, without grudging, because if you grudge and you do these things, you're not really doing these things. You can't really extend hospitality in a grudging manner because it's no longer hospitality. Hospitality is characterized by a loving, kind spirit. It's not characterized by somebody grudgingly giving you food and a room and so on. It's not really hospitality. So we must do these things with that wonderful cheerfulness, with that grace, with the help of the Holy Spirit, using hospitality, praying to God, and loving one another with all our hearts. These are the challenges, these are the exhortations. May the Lord help us in these things.