1 Peter 4:7
The End of All Things

Peter's Creed

  1. Baptism saves you through the resurrection of Christ
    1. Christ was justified at his resurrection
    2. Christ was raised for your justification
  2. And Christ has gone ahead into heaven with power
    1. He has already entered heaven on your behalf
    2. And he has already overcome all the forces that oppose you
  1. Have the mind of Christ who suffered and finished with sin
  2. He did this so we would live for the will of God not men
  3. There will be a Judgment Day for everyone
  1. Judgment Day is near so be serious for the purpose of prayer.
    1. Judgment Day is near
      1. The end of all things is near
        1. Not simply a reference to the shortness of life and the immanence of death — all things are about to come to an end
        2. Remember v.5 — Christ stands ready to judge
      2. Since Peter wrote those words, civilizations have risen and fallen, societies have come and gone.
        1. The Roman empire collapsed, never to rise again. A "Holy Roman Emperor," Charlemagne claimed to continue that empire, but he was starting something different. Emperors, Kings, Tsars, Sultans — world leaders of every sort have come and gone.
        2. Those to whom Peter wrote died. Their children died. Their grandchildren and great-granchildren and great great great etc. grandchildren died.
        3. And still, Christ has not returned
      3. Has the weight of rolling years borne Peter's prediction to the grave? Was the end not "near" after all? Or did the end come and nobody noticed?
        1. Peter tells you in his second letter how to respond to mockers who say "where is the promise of his coming?"
        2. "With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Pet 3.8)
        3. The time seems long to us, and would have seemed long to Peter's audience had they known. But to God, the past 2000 years are a couple of days that have passed. Any day now he will act.
      4. From the perspective of eternity, the time passed is tiny, a drop in the bucket; Christ's return is close at hand.
      5. But Peter means more. The end is "near" not in the sense of time but in the sense of the history of redemption. Let me explain:
        1. Peter speaks of Jesus standing "ready" to judge in v. 5.
        2. What makes him ready?
          1. He's suffered and died and thus is finished dealing with sin.
          2. He's been justified by the Spirit at his resurrection.
          3. He has ascended into heaven and been given power.
          4. The next event in his datebook, as it were, is his return to judge the living and the dead.
          5. The Apostles' and the Nicene Creed pick up on this. He died, was buried, was raised again, ascended, sat down (power)... Next statement? He will come again with glory to judge...
      6. Forget about the whole of human history between Peter and now. His statement stands as true today as it did over 1900 years ago: Christ is ready. Nothing but the secret decree of God which no man knows keeps him from returning at any moment. He could come now. Today. The end is near.
      7. I beg you, do not disbelieve what the Spirit says in this passage lest you be found unprepared:
        1. Unbelievers: do not delay a single moment. Flee from the coming wrath lest it come in this very instant and overtake you.
        2. Believers: Do not be caught up in the things of this world. In an instant they'll be gone.
          1. Therefore, give all diligence to see that you are ready when he comes
          2. If the servant knew when his master was returning, he would have prepared himself
          3. Blessed is the one whom Jesus finds striving by faith toward salvation when he returns. Tomorrow is too late to begin heeding Peter's advice. Next week might as well be 7000 years away.
          4. The return is near, therefore....
    2. Therefore be serious for the purpose of prayer
      1. Be sane
        1. Like the man possessed by the legion of demons whom they found clothed and in his right mind after Jesus cast the legion out
        2. Be sane. Be those who judge things rightly and value things at their true value
        3. The world and all its goods — these are perishable things. A sane man values them no more than grass which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire.
        4. The kingdom which is forever and ever; the sight of God in the face of Christ — these things are eternal and merit your steady gaze.
        5. Be sane. Live in the light of the knowledge that the last day is near
      2. Be sober
        1. In Greek as in English — opposite of "drunk"
        2. Used in 1.13 when Peter urged "Set your hope fully upon the grace that is being brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed."
        3. Same thought here
          1. To a drunk, it seems like a good idea to give all his money to a man in a bar who says he'll invest it and bring you back 10 times as much in a week.
          2. To a sober man, the prospect is ridiculous
        4. Don't be intoxicated by this world which makes promises of permanent satisfaction. It cannot keep those promises. Nothing in this world can.
        5. Be sober, as those who assess things according to their true value.
      3. That you may pray
        1. Luke 21:43ff. "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
        2. This is exactly what Peter is saying:
          1. Be sober and alert because the day is coming unexpectedly
          2. And pray that you will have the strength to escape the persecution that surrounds you
        3. They are being persecuted by unbelievers
          1. Mocked and ridiculed: "Where is the promise of his coming?!"
            • Loving this life, they are tempted to pray that the mockers will just go away.
            • But they must pray as sober men who love the life to come that they will not lose faith and begin to disbelieve in the promises of God
          2. Disenfranchised and Defrauded:
            • Caught up in this world, they might think the most important prayer is that social oppression would ease, that their cause might gain political ascendency, or at least that their goods might be returned.
            • But they must pray as sane men who evaluate things at their proper worth, that their hope might not be taken from the eternal kingdom and the lasting treasure
          3. Beaten and even imprisoned
            • Loving the flesh, they might think the most needful prayer is for the beatings to end and the prisoners to be released. (Just as Peter in the Garden thought the proper thing to do was secure Jesus' release from suffering. But that suffering was inevitable. And Peter says ours is as well.)
            • But they should take their warning from Peter.
              • Jesus told him "Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation." Instead he slept.
              • Consequence: he denied his Lord because he loved his flesh
        4. We believe in the sovereignty of God, i.e. in his complete power over all things.
        5. And we believe he exercises that power for his glory and our good.
        6. And we should rely on that, but sometimes we rely on that in a bad way
        7. We know that God is the one who converts sinners to himself. And he will convert all those whom he chose from the foundation of the world. He does not need us to accomplish his will. Nor can we or anyone else thwart that will.
        8. What an abomination if we sat on our hands and said,
          1. therefore I will have no answer for my neighbor when he asks a reason for my hope.
          2. Therefore I will not seek God daily that he should conform me to Christ and make my life a testimony to my neighbor.
          3. Therefore I will not bring him to hear the preaching of the word. Let God bring him if he wishes
          4. This is sinning that grace may abound.
        9. Rather it is God's delight to use our verbal and non-verbal testimony to win others to himself.
        10. We know this concerning our neighbor's salvation; how often we forget it concerning our own.
        11. I confess that I so forgot this truth that I was puzzled by Peter's statement: The end is near so pray. Puzzled I tell you! The commentaries gave me no help.
        12. So let me preach this to you as plainly as possible: Your prayers are the means by which God will keep you safe until the day of salvation.
          1. Your enemy, the devil prowls about like a lion. Be sober (5.8) that you may pray.
          2. Do not fear him, but fear your own strength to resist him and pray incessantly that you may be enable to stand firm in Christ.
          3. Pray that you may not enter into temptation
          4. Pray that the lure of this world may not overwhelm you and take your eyes off Christ
          5. Pray that you will persevere in the faith until Christ Jesus comes.
            • What's that you say? Perseverance is a foregone conclusion? We know it will happen because God promised it?
            • That's why we ought to pray for it!
            • Prayer is not making up things for God to do, it is depending on God to do what he promised he will. This prayer is not a work of our strength that God rewards; it is the cry of faith that God might be faithful.
            • When we fail to pray for perseverance it is because we are depending on ourselves to persevere rather than on the grace of God in Christ.
          6. You are surrounded by those who hate Christ and his church
            1. Pray that they may not tempt you into unbelief
            2. Pray that they may rather be persuaded by your words and actions to turn from their sins and follow Christ.
          7. You are attacked from within by lusts and temptations
            1. Peter says they wage war against your soul
            2. They want nothing more than to overcome you and drag you down to hell; pray that they will not succeed (and know that they will not because God has promised they will fail. Pray, believing)
          8. And in light of what Peter goes on to say, I'd be remiss if I didn't admonish you to pray for one another and with one another.
            • Your prayers then become the instrument not only by which God saves you but your brothers and sisters as well.
            • Your prayers together teach and encourage one another and they lay hold of God's promises on each other's behalf so that together you will persevere unto salvation.
            • I beg you to know that the end is near and to come together for prayer.
            • Assess your lives soberly and sanely. Do not be so caught in this world that your pursuit of its things leaves you neither time nor energy for pursuit of heavenly matters.
          9. And with such warfare and the end so near, who can help but pray, "Amen, Come quickly Lord Jesus! And may we be found faithful when you come." Only he can do this; therefore pray to him that he will and know that he shall.
  2. Above all, love one another.
    1. In general, because love covers over sins
    2. Specifically, by being hospitable
    3. And by exercising gifts for the common good
  3. That God may be glorified in Christ
    1. So God may receive all the glory
    2. Because to Him belong eternal glory and dominion

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