1 Peter 4:7-8 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. 8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

As Peter looked at the madness of society around him, he declared “the end of all things is at hand”. Both Israel and Rome had become so decadent and divorced from the God of Scripture, that he knew it was not long before both nations would collapse. Israel would collapse in 70 AD, as Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed. Rome would fall a little over 400 years later, in 476 AD. Moral corruption, the political division of the empire, and invasions by what we would call “illegal aliens” who attacked the citizenship. The Bible tells us:

Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

What kept the Roman Empire going for 400 years after Israel was scattered?

God’s Church, the people for whom Christ died.

Nations have come and gone since Christ walked this earth. These once great nations are now only found in history books:

Edom (Jeremiah 49:17–22)
Assyria (Zephaniah 2:13–15)
Sodom (Genesis 18:20)
Babylon (Jeremiah 51)

were all wiped out because they pursued evil and darkness. Today you will not find any:

Hittites (Exodus 23:23)
Moabites (Zephaniah 2:8–10)
Philistines (Zephaniah 2:5)

because these nations rebelled against God. These nations were all marked by homosexuality, fornication or unmarried lust, and idolatry prior to their collapse. As Peter sees the nation spinning down, he gives the Christian three things to do:

be sober
watch unto prayer
have fervent love among yourselves

Be Sober

Word Study: To “be sober” is the Greek sōphroneō means “be in the right mind”. What does it mean to “be in the right mind”? It means to have the “mind of Christ”. The world follows feelings and fads and foolishness. The world, in short, follows that which pleases the flesh. We who are saved do not follow after the world and the flesh, but we follow Christ.

We who are Christians follow Christ in this present world. The world has the mind of Satan. We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). To be sober means that when confronted by the world, we respond as Christ did. We do not resort to the flesh, but to the Spirit Who indwells us.

1 Peter 2:21-23 (ESV) For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Following Jesus means that we COMMIT NO SIN. We do not lower ourselves to the standard of the world. What God has said is sin, is sin, though all the world celebrate it. When Christ gave His life on Calvary to pay for our sins, He did not do so in order to allow us to sin freely. That’s nonsense. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Around 2014 the slogan,

“Love is Love”

began to spread across America, humanizing those involved in sexual sin. Jesus said:

Matthew 16:24 … If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

“Love is Love” sounds good, but it’s wrong. True love is defined by God. True love begins in God. The very greatest Commandment as defined by Jesus is:

Matthew 22:37 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.

We are to love God more than our fathers and mothers, more than our siblings, more than our children. Jesus said:

Matthew 10:37-39 (ESV) Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Christianity is a forsaking of the world and an embracing of Jesus Christ. We embrace Him for salvation, and we embrace Him for life. If you embrace Jesus, you embrace God. The Bible says:

1 John 4:8 God is love

but the Bible also says in 1 Corinthians 13:6, “Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth”. If you love God with your all, you put away that which God has said is abominable and sinful. As Christians we:

Romans 13:12 … cast off the works of darkness, and … put on the armour of light.

There is a scene in one episode of “The Chosen” where a man is confessing his sins to Jesus. As he tells the Lord what he did, he repents with bitter tears, declaring himself unworthy. Jesus touches him, and tells him his sins are forgiven. Then Jesus tells him, (and here I paraphrase),

“Return to synagogue, and listen to the words of the Torah, letting them change you and bring you peace.”

You will not be in your right mind unless you are hearing the Word of God, and following the Son of God. You must heed His Word, and order your life by it. The moral law of God was never repealed in Christ – just the sacrificial and ceremonial laws. The Lamb of God shed His Blood once for all to secure your salvation.

But sin is still sin, as God has defined sin in His Bible!

One of my favorite Bible stories is that of the demon possessed man “in the country of the Gadarenes” (Mark 5:1). This man was possessed with many demons, so many that this crowd of demons called themselves “Legion”. Jesus cast Legion out of the man, and into a herd of swine, which in turn killed themselves. The Bible says that when those owners of the swine came and found Jesus:

Mark 5:15 … they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: (sōphroneō) and they were afraid.

That man was sitting and talking to Jesus, no longer possessed by the darkness. Those sellers of swine demanded that Jesus leave their place of business. Jesus is bad for business if your business is evil! Christians and sin and Satan should not mix. We are to be sober, in our right mind, in the mind of Christ. For that to happen you must read and study your Scripture, your Bible. You cannot know right from wrong unless, like Jesus, you know what “it is written”. If you love Jesus, the world will not love you. Peter tells us:

1 Peter 4:14-16 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

The Christian is not to violate the moral Law of God. Neither murder nor thievery is now fine because of the Cross of Christ. Jesus died for murderers. Jesus died for thieves. As Jesus died on the Hill of Calvary, the Bible says that there were “malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left” (Luke 23:33). These were criminals who were probably murdering thieves. Christians do not follow after sin, nor are we evil doers. We are not to try to rule others lives, being busy bodies. We are to follow Christ in love.

Watch Unto Prayer

Word Study: “watch unto prayer” is the Greek nēphō eis proseuchē, which means

“guard or watch over your own life through interaction and communication with God”

The world itself is asleep in sin, but we walk with Christ. We imitate Him. We love Him. We lift Him up. As we let the Word of God flow over our lives, we like priests stay in contact with our Savior and Lord. We pray.

– Prayer will change our perspective. A great story I often go to is in 2 Kings chapter 6 in the life of Elisha. Elisha was Elijah’s successor, and he loved the Lord. And the Lord loved him. One of the prophets that followed after Elisha was cutting a tree down one day, and the ax head slipped off the handle and was lost in the water. That young man began to fret, because the ax was borrowed, and he was liable for it. Elisha cut off and threw a stick in the water, and the ax head floated to shore (2 Kings 6:6). This is a beautiful picture of the Cross of Christ. When you toss the Cross into the troubled waters of your life, God causes the iron to float, and the trouble to lighten! What a glorious picture! I could preach on just this, the Cross in the waters. Maybe I will one day.

The King of Syria was angry with Elisha, because Elisha always prophesied where that King wanted to attack Israel – and Israel, listening to the prophecy, was always ready. So the King of Syria decided to attack and capture Elisha.

The prophet who had seen the ax head float just the day before woke up the next morning, and saw “an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the {prophet} said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” (2 Kings 6:15). Elisha answered,

2 Kings 6:16-17 (ESV) … “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Prayer opens our eyes to our God’s goodness. Saved by Grace, we need not fear – but to follow Christ. The Apostle told the young Pastor Timothy:

2 Timothy 1:6-7 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

If fear and hopelessness are taking you, you need to pray. Prayer will change your perspective, and your attitude. Fear God, but do not fear the world.

Psalm 118:6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

– Prayer will NOT change the will of God. You can pray all you want, but if your prayers do not match the TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE, then you are praying in vain. God has said:

Isaiah 46:9-10 I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’

If God has called you into His family by faith in Christ Jesus, He has saved you by Grace. But you MUST fulfill His purpose. The Scripture says:

Be proactive with God the Holy Spirit in shaping your life to be like Christ’s!

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Romans 12:1-2 (ESV) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We cannot pray for God to endorse sin. We cannot pray for God to change Scripture. Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). What God has determined is right will always be right. What God has determined is wrong will always be wrong.

John Piper wrote:

“Those who believe in Christ Jesus are already blood-bought new creatures in Christ. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). But now we must become what we are. “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened” (1 Corinthians 5:7).”

If you are saved, it is God’s will that you be a son of God, an imitator of THE Son of God. This will not change. Your business is to be like Jesus, to think like Jesus, to act like Jesus. This is a lifetime project. As we pray, and grow closer to God through our prayers, we become more like Christ.

Sometimes our suffering is the Divine Will of God. Jesus prayed three times in Gethsemane:

Matthew 26:39 My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

The Father loved the Son, and loves Him still. Yet even as much as He loves the Son, His Son had to suffer and die for the Plan of Salvation to go forward. God had predestined or pre-willed that Christ die for our sins (see Acts 4:27-28).

Isaiah 53:10 (ESV) … Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt …

When the Apostle Paul was afflicted by “a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited” (2 Corinthians 12:7) he said:

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (ESV) Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

We can and should bring our infirmities to God for healing. But if the infirmity is there because it is God’s will that it be there, then no amount of prayer will remove it. Our God is in control of all things.

– Prayer restores us to a right relationship with God. When we sin, we bring a breech between us and our God. When King David had Uriah murdered and took his wife to be his own, confronted by Nathan the Prophet David repented. David did not “do penance”, but approached God in prayer, saying:

Psalm 51:1-4 (ESV) Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,

In his prayer David acknowledged his sin before the Lord. He cast himself upon the Grace of God. He cried out:

Psalm 51:9-12 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

David did not seek to be saved again, but asked that God “Restore to me the joy of your salvation”. He had lost the joy of his faith, but Christ had not left him.

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), the son that left the Father to go out into the world was still a son even at his lowest point. When he found himself in the worst of all jobs, he came back to the Father, and said:

Luke 15:21 … Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

How did the Father respond? He celebrated His son’s return, and took him back into the household with joy, saying “my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (vs 24). The son reached this state of Grace by repenting, returning to the Father, and by prayer.

Have Fervent Charity Among Yourselves

1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Word Study: The words “fervent charity” is the Greek ektenēs agapē, which means “an unceasing love”. We are to love other believers unconditionally. Now, what does this look like? This is NOT love like the world defines love, but love as GOD defines love.

Jesus loved people regardless of race. The Church is intentionally for all people, since Christ died for the whole world. The Scripture says:

1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

If Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, then we can expect – in Heaven – there to be people from ALL NATIONS. And there are. John the Revelator looked into Heaven and saw the saints singing:

Revelation 5:9-10 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Jesus died for all, and wants all in Heaven. We must unceasingly love every person, especially those of the household of God. BUT we must be careful to love people within the parameters of what the Bible defines as sin. The Bible forbids sexual sin of every type.

To love someone unceasingly is to love them enough to tell them what the Bible says. It is not love to justify that which God has forbidden. Sin must always be placed under the Blood of Christ.

Let’s end with these words:

1 Peter 4:9-10 Use hospitality one to another without grudging. 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.

Illustrate: You are STEWARDS of Grace. A STEWARD is like a sharecropper on a field. The sharecropper does not own the field, but farms the field for the owner and master. Once the crop comes to harvest, the sharecropper is given a portion of the profit for his work.

You are STEWARDS of GRACE, if you have been saved. God has given you the free gift of eternal life, and has left you on this earth to be like Jesus to others, leading them to His Grace. You do not own Grace, God owns you. If you live as good stewards the Kingdom of God will grow in this area, and we will all benefit by it. But if you are a sloppy Steward, you hurt the cause of Christ and yourself.

You are to follow Jesus.
You are to be like Jesus.
You are to lead others to Jesus.

The strength of our nation relies on your obedience to Him. Amen and Amen.