If you would please turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4, if you would please. May the power of that be with us this whole time. First Peter chapter 4 verses 7 through 11 is our text this morning. First Peter 4 verses 7 through 11. The word of the Lord. 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. 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 the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for Jesus Christ. We thank you for your saving grace. We pray that you are pleased with all that is said and done and thought this morning, the worship offered to you. Holy Spirit, we pray that you would take that which you have prepared for us this morning and graciously apply it to each and every one of us here this morning. You are he who searches the hearts and minds of your people. You are intimately acquainted with us. And so we pray that you would be pleased to administer your word to us as you see fit. Lord Jesus, we pray that if anyone here this morning or listening to this message has not yet placed their faith, their trust in you for the promise of forgiveness, we pray that you would be so kind to look to the Father, mediating on their behalf, pleading with him to draw them unto himself through you by placing faith in you, we pray. Lord, I pray you'd be pleased with your servant's work on your behalf. I pray that you would be pleased to grant me a singleness of mind, clarity of speech, the authority to speak, accuracy of speech, Lord. If I should speak anything amiss, I pray for your forgiveness in advance. And above all, we pray that you are glorified, that you are honored this morning, that you are pleased with all that is said and done. In your holy name we pray, amen. I would like to begin our time together this morning with a working definition as I prepared As I thought about how we would begin our time this morning, I thought that beginning with a working definition would be appropriate. Motivation. Motivation. The noun. The reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. Motivation. the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. Escape can be a strong motivation for travel. And so we ask ourselves, or the question is asked, what motivates us each day? Each morning, what are we motivated by? What motivates you to pull the blanket back each morning and plant your feet on the floor? What motivates you to think the thoughts that you think, to say the things that you say? What motivates you to do the things that you do? What motivates you to live the lifestyle that you live? What's motivating you? the places you go to, the people you associate with, the things you read, the things you view or watch, the private and public activities that you participate in, the things that you think, say, and do, what is motivating you, beloved? As a Bible-believing family of faith, we understand that our purpose in this life and the life to come, we understand that the purpose and the reason for which God created us, we were created to glorify God and to enjoy Him now and forevermore. Glorifying God and enjoying Him as Christians should be the motivating factor in all that we say, all that we do, and all that we think. That should be the filter through which we filter everything through. Does this glorify God? Will this enable me to enjoy Him today and forevermore? Beloved, the world in which we live is a wicked, wicked world. Sin abounds, sin abounds. If we are going to experience happiness, true happiness, then we need to be fulfilling our God-given purpose in this life and the one to come when we finally see and behold our beloved Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In all that we do, we must be motivated by the desire to glorify and enjoy God. We must be motivated by the desire to fulfill our God-given purpose of glorifying and enjoying Him now and forevermore. And so when we looked at today's passage here in 1 Peter 4, we see there is another motivating factor, another motivating factor that should be moving us to live lives that glorify God and enable us to enjoy our personal relationship with Him here and now and in the life to come. while glorifying God and enjoying Him forever is and should be our primary motivating factor in all that we say, do, and think. As we will now see from 1 Peter 4, 7 through 11, that should be likewise in all that we say, do, and think, we should be motivated by the end. Motivated by the end. Read with me if you would today's text, then we'll look to the Father once again. in prayer. Notice what Peter writes to the church. He says, but the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, for this reason, be motivated by this. In other words, 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 and here we are here we see Peter identifying our Overall purpose in life our main purpose our chief and that in all things God may be glorified Through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory and the dominion forever and ever amen Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, once again, we pray that you would be pleased to bless our time together this morning. We fully acknowledge, we fully acknowledge that without your enabling grace, nothing worthwhile would occur here this morning. And so Father, we've gathered here this morning to glorify you and to enjoy our personal relationship with you. And so we pray that you would be pleased that you would be glorified, and that we would be edified. In your holy name we pray, amen. Again, 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 covers 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 the dominion forever and ever. Amen. As Christians, we are to live out our faith in Jesus Christ with a heightened sense of eternity, with a heightened sense of eternity, a heightened sense of eternal values, with a heightened sense of the eternal perspective that we as God's people should have. We should be living out our faith in Jesus Christ with eternity in mind. with eternity in mind. The end of all things is at hand, Peter says. It's at hand. It's at hand. The end of all things could happen at any given moment. Perhaps within the next few minutes, the next hour, the next day, the next week, the next month, the next year, Nobody knows the day or the hour, but we do know this, the end of all things is at hand. Beloved, we only need to consider the times in which we live and what the Bible says about the days in which we live to understand that the end of time is at hand. It's at hand, it could happen at any moment. We live in a day in which wickedness is growing by leaps and bounds, encouraged by government officials and branches of the government, and yet the majority of the American citizens does nothing and chooses to go on with living life, eating, drinking, and marrying. They don't want to be bothered with it. They know it's there, they know it's wrong, but they don't want to be troubled with it. So they go on with their life, eating, drinking, and marrying. Listen carefully to what Jesus says in Luke 17, 22 through 30. This is what our Lord says here. as Luke recorded his words. The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. and they will say to you, look here, or look there. Do not go after them or follow them, for as the lightning that flattens, now listen, for as the lightning that flashes out of one part of heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also will the Son of Man be in his day. In other words, what Jesus is saying here is that one, false Christs will rise, don't follow them, and his return will occur with the speed of light. People will be blindsided. Just as fast as lightning originates from one side of the heaven and flashes to the other side of the heaven, Christ will return. He goes on to say, But first, he must suffer many things, he's referring to himself, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, listen carefully, beloved, as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man, when Christ returns. Well, what were the days of Noah like? They ate, they drank, they married wives, They were given in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. In other words, what Jesus is saying here, they just went about living out their life as if all was well. He goes on to say, likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so, listen to what Jesus says, even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. And so again, in the days of Lot, what did they do? They went about living out their daily lives as if nothing was wrong. They raised their families, they built homes, they focused on the future, they ate, they drank, they married, they had grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren. They just went about their daily living as if everything was okay. No one preparing for the return of Jesus Christ. No one preparing for the judgment that was to come in that day. And today, no one's preparing. Many are not preparing themselves for the day which Jesus will return, much like the foolish virgins that we read about this morning. People are going about their life as if God doesn't exist. They're going about their daily living as if all is well. They're going about their life with no regard or thought to God and the judgment that is to fall upon this wicked, wicked, evil world. But boy, like in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot, they will most certainly be taken by surprise. As in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot, judgment will fall and catch them all by surprise as Christ returns, occurs at the speed of lightning, at the speed of lightning. But the end of all things is at hand, Peter says. Therefore, for this reason, be serious, Christians, church, be serious and watchful in your prayers, and above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins, Peter says. In other words, what Peter's saying, with the end of all things is at hand in view, we are to be serious and watchful in our prayers. Do we pray? Are we praying? How often do we pray? Are we serious in our prayers? Are we watchful in our prayers, beloved? In other words, Peter's saying we are to be clear-minded and self-controlled in our prayers. We are to be clear-minded and self-controlled. Unlike the world that doesn't think clearly, it obviously is not thinking clearly, saying boys can be girls and girls can be boys. Subjecting children to drag queen hours. Not thinking clearly. And it's obviously out of control. God's people, especially in light of the end of all things being at hand, We are to be clear-minded and we are to be self-controlled people. Peter says, so that we may know how to pray as we await the Lord's return, as we await for the end of all things, in a world that's gone mad and increasing in wickedness, we need to be careful to always be clear-minded and self-controlled so that we truly know how to pray. So we truly know how to pray in every situation as we await for the Lord's return. We need to be clear-minded and self-controlled so that we may not only know how to pray, but also so that we may know how we ought to be loving one another. Again, what does Peter say? He says, but the end of all things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful. Be clear-minded and self-controlled in your prayers. And above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Beloved, as the world goes mad, and it is, and it will continue to until Christ returns, as the world goes mad and grows in its wickedness, we must be clear-minded and self-controlled so that we know how to pray and know how to love one another. Because the fact of the matter is, is that as we face the hostility of this Christ-rejecting world, loving one another with Christ-like love, a love doesn't keep a record of wrongs. That's what he's referring to. Love covers a multitude of sins. As we face this Christ-rejecting world, loving one another with Christ-like love, a love that doesn't keep a record of wrongs. And knowing how to pray for ourselves, for one another, for the unsaved is absolutely necessary. The end of all things is at hand. We need to know how to pray. And we need to be able to love one another with Christ-like love. Beloved, We need to be motivated by the end, by the end of all things. We need to be motivated by the end. Beloved, typically, typically when one finds themselves stricken with a fatal illness, a fatal disease, and they know it's just a matter of moments or hours or weeks. Typically, especially as Christians, what typically occurs not too long after the fatal diagnosis? There's a family gathering, confessions are made, Things are made right. Forgiveness is offered and received. With the end of all things being at hand, that's how we should be responding. confessing to one another, offering forgiveness to one another. Love covers a multitude of sins, embracing one another with Christ-like love. Notice what Peter goes on to say, beginning with verse nine. He says, be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received the 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 be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Here's what I believe Peter is saying here. As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, lovingly serving one another, being hospitable toward one another, let our hospitality be administered with love. When we speak to one another, let us do so as if we're speaking on God's behalf. Be careful with the words we speak to one another. Let us say those things that God would have us to say to one another. Let us not only speak as God would have us to speak, but also let us serve one another, minister one another as God would have us to minister to one another. A servant is not greater than his master. Jesus humbled himself and draped himself in his servant's towel and washed dirty, sticky feet. Let us do these things so that as we await for the end of all things, God, through Jesus Christ, would be glorified here on earth. Peter understood the vital importance of living out one's faith in Jesus Christ in light of the end of all things being at hand, being at the door. So as we've seen in today's passage, He wrote to them, the church, in hopes of encouraging them to be motivated by the end of all things. And so, beloved, we need to be or we should be motivated by the end. Knowing that the end of all things could happen at any time should motivate us to be clear-minded, to be self-controlled in our prayers, should motivate us to be a people of prayer. Again, how often do we pray? And to be self-controlled so that we know how to pray and love one another with Christ-like love as we await for Christ's return. The end of all things as we know it, beloved, is at hand. we should be motivated to be sober and clear-minded, self-controlled in our prayers and in our love one for another. 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, as each one has received a gift, minister 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 the dominion forever and ever. Amen? Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness. Father, help us help our family of faith here. Help us to glorify you. Help us to order our lives in light of the end. being at hand. Help us to always be mindful of your sudden return. It could happen at any given moment. Help us to live lives that glorify You. Help us to be mindful. Help us to have the urgency, the motivation to faithfully live out our faith in You as we patiently and eagerly await for your return. In your holy name we pray. Amen.