1 Peter 4:7-11 | How to Live When Time Is Short

Sunday Morning | January 26, 2025 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

In the sermon "How to Live When Time is Short" based on I Peter 4:7-11, six key principles are highlighted to guide Christians in living purposefully in light of life’s brevity. First, believers are called to live with a sense of urgency, recognizing the fleeting nature of time. Second, they should prepare their hearts to pray, cultivating a deep connection with God. Third, they are urged to practice love that overlooks offenses, as Proverbs 10:12 reminds us that love covers a multitude of sins. Fourth, Christians are encouraged to open their homes in hospitality, fostering community and care. Fifth, they should faithfully use their God-given gifts to serve others, reflecting Christ's love. Lastly, they are reminded to leave room for spontaneous praise, glorifying God in all circumstances. The message emphasizes the gravity of Jesus’ sacrifice, as He saves believers from the coming judgment and wrath of God, a truth underscored by Tom Schreiner's reflections on the atonement.

You can join us on Sunday mornings at 11 AM for worship. We are located at 8911 3rd Street Road, Louisville KY 40272.

Transcript

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Yes. Great are you, Lord. Great is the Lord. God. We come together this morning to celebrate your greatness. We come with our brokenness, our challenges. But we bring those before you because you are great. It's your blood that washes over us. It's your blood that heals us. We stand in your strength. We've tried in our own. That didn't work, hasn't worked. It never works. Thank you for your blood. Jesus, I pray this morning we would hear from you. Each one of us tends to block you out in our own way. I pray this morning our ears would be open. Our hearts would be open to hear from you. Our hearts would be tender. Yes. Thank you for your word. We love you, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Well, it's great to gather with you this morning, and I want to welcome back our students who were, some of them sit in this general direction. They were gone last weekend. They went to the winter retreat and they had a great time. How many of you are still recovering from that from sleep loss during that time? I see a few parents. I didn't see any students raise their hand. It took us a few days in our home to kind of recover from it, but it's those kind of things. It's it's worth it. I don't know what your experience was like growing up in church, but for me, those events, something about getting away, hearing someone else tell you the things you've already heard 100 times at church. It's something about that God can just use that to move in your life. And I know as a student there were times of deep, spiritually significant moving moments, and I know that was the case for some who were there this weekend. The reason I bring that up is we just need to keep praying for our students, our young adults. That's not just some separate side ministry of the church. You realize that's the future of this church. Those are the future leaders of ministries. Those are the future deacons and elders and people on stage seeing it. That's the very future of this church. That's really the reason why we're here. It's not just for us. We're just stewards of this church. It's not my Valley View. I mean, we're here. It was passed, handed down to us. None of us were here when it started 85 years ago. We're here as a steward. We're passing it on to them. And, Lord willing, they'll steward it well and pass it on to the next generation. So keep praying for our students, and thank you all for taking the time to go. There's a million other things you could choose to do. Well, we're back in the book of First Peter today. We took a break from First Peter for a few weeks to talk about the New Year, Christmas, New Year's talk about who we are, know thyself as a church. But we're back in our series in First Peter. We're going to spend about six more weeks in First Peter wrapping it up, and we're going to be in First Peter chapter four. And the main message of today's passage that we'll be studying is, how do you live when time is short? When you know the time is short, it changes your priorities. It changes the way you live. The things you thought were important might not be as important. And the things that you know are important take prominence. In fact, thinking back, especially to the end of World War Two as it was drawing near, you've got Americans on one side, Russians on the other, coming in, invading Germany, releasing people as they find them. And many of the prison camps. Something started to happen. People knew the end is near. The end is coming on both sides of the equation. The guards and the inmates, and both started to change the way they act. The guards would start to be a little nicer. You know, these people might be over me here very soon. I better start to be a little nicer to them. Maybe they'll remember that rather than the awful things I did. Start to be a little nicer, a little more lenient, maybe even slip them some more food, give them more freedoms. Then on the inmates side, they are starting to sense. They didn't want to believe it before, but they are starting to sense something is changing. The atmosphere is changing. We're probably going to be free soon. And they started to act differently towards the guards. They didn't seem to see them to have the same hold over them that they used to. A little more boldness, a little more freedom. And the the lines between the two started to blur some in some areas, depending on who the guards were and what the camp was like. But the reality was they both knew the end is near, the end is coming, and they started to act in light of that. First Peter chapter four, verse seven, it's going to highlight this. How do you live when you know the end is near? How do you live differently in light of the end coming? We're going to look at verses seven through 11 and talk about how that applies to us today, when you know the end is near. In fact, in this passage, we're going to see six ways to live in light of the end, six ways that we're called to live when you know the end is near, when you know the end is coming. How do you live differently when time is short? So we're in First Peter chapter four. And if you have a church Bible, that page number should be on the screen. Page 955. If you don't have a Bible, those are out in the lobby. Grab one. Any time. Those are free for you. We're going to read verses seven through 11, and then we'll unpack these six ways to live when time is short. First Peter four verse seven, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore be self-controlled, sober minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly. Since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift. Use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God. Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to him belong glory and dominion forever and forever. Amen. Here we have First Peter four seven through 11, setting up this idea of how do you live when time is short? How do you live in light of the end when you know the end is near? And the first way is right here in this very first phrase, you live with a sense of urgency. That should be the first step. I should have a heightened sense of urgency. If time is short, I have less time to accomplish the things I know that are important. There should be a sense of urgency. You see it here in this very first phrase. The end of all things is at hand. Don't forget, we tend to live in a way that we think life's just going to continue on as it always has. We we kind of lull ourselves into believing that it's always been a certain way, and it's just going to stay that way forever. Every single day. Someone who was thinking that in the morning, by the end of the day, everything has changed. And some of you have been there at times. It could be a health crisis, it could have been a loved one passes unexpectedly. It could be a financial change occurs that you didn't see coming, or a job or a relationship of some kind that you thought would be there forever has ended. Every single day. We thought everything would just keep going on the way it was. But then it ended or things changed. We need to live with a sense of urgency, and not with some gloom and doom that any day everything could fall apart, but rather just delighting in the joy of the day God has given us, but also carrying a sense of urgency that we're not guaranteed another day, making the most of every single day. Now, the important thing to remember about this phrase yes, we need to live with a sense of urgency in light of the fact that I could I could be gone tomorrow. But what Peter here is probably giving more emphasis to is the reality that everything that everyone in the Old Testament had been waiting for has now come true in Christ. If you look at the Bible and you split it up into two big halves, the Old Testament and the New Testament, easy way to think of it is the Old Testament is promises, prophecy. The New Testament is fulfillment. The Old Testament is, here's what we're hoping to see happen. Here's how God is working and what he's pointing towards. New Testament is - it's happened. He has showed up. And so when he says the end of all things is at hand, what he means is everything you've been waiting for as you studied the scriptures, the Old Testament has come true in Christ. Now there's still a few things to be worked out. He's going to come back. He's going to sum up all things in him. But yet we're a lot closer than we were. The end is at hand. Things are progressing forward. The story has moved forward, a significant chapter. There's been a big shift in the story of Scripture, and the end is near, which calls us to live with a sense of urgency, a renewed daily sense of gratitude and joy and hope and peace. It's said that the ancient samurai warriors in Japan would every day begin their days meditating on the reality that that day would likely be the day they die, because every day they knew. My call is to be ready to die. I am a person of the sword. That is the instrument that I live by and that I will likely die by. And today I need to be fully ready for that. And every decision I make will affect that. My readiness for that or not, that sense of urgency for their calling, for their mission. When I think of walking with Christ, having that sense daily of urgency, of seeing everything that I can do to be about proclaiming him to others, and that everything I do either helps that or takes away from it, is a sense of urgency I hope to carry. Walk with a sense of urgency. Now, the second half of this verse, though, brings up a dynamic of that that's important. How do we do that? How do we live as if the end of all things is at hand? Because we don't often, often do that. Look at what he says here. This is the second point. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. The second way to live, knowing that time is short is to prepare your heart to pray. Prepare your heart to pray. This is going to take a second to get our minds around how important this is to understand the connection between the mind and prayer. And it's no coincidence that the first thing he mentions when he talks about the importance of living with a sense of urgency is prayer. Which is frustrating because when you think someone says live with a sense of urgency, you think that means do more stuff in the short amount of time you have. And when you think of prayer, you don't think about doing more stuff. You think, oh, that's doing less stuff. That's kind of the point. Become less self dependent. Become more Christ dependent. And prayer is the best picture of that. You know, prayer is one of the most important things we can do as a church. Every major movement of revival that I've read about was usually either led by a prolonged season of desperate prayer or coincided with a continued season of sincere, desperate prayer. And how many of us would say, I, man, I want to see revival break out in our church? I would say that, but then I got to ask myself, does my prayer life match that desire? I confess it doesn't. So what does that mean? How do we get to a place where our desire for prayer matches the activity of prayer? That's what we want. We know prayer's not easy. It's not. It can be hard. Why is prayer hard? What's probably the number one reason prayer is hard? You tell me. Give me some reasons. I heard the word distraction. Who would say that's true for them? I think that's probably true. You go to pray, and within three nanoseconds, you're thinking about something at work or school or relationship, and you're just off somewhere else. And then you're mad at yourself for not praying, and you try to get back, and you can't. That it's true. Two words here that are critical for how we move towards prayer. He says here, be self-controlled and sober minded. Let's talk about that word sober minded first. Sober minded now. Sober minded. Obviously can refer at an obvious level to the chemical state of your mind. I mean, if your mind is intoxicated by beverages, your mind is cloudy. It's not thinking clearly. It's being manipulated. It's not seeing the world as it really is. Instead, we’re called to be sober minded. That same word is used of the demon possessed man in Luke chapter eight. Jesus comes to him, heals him, sends the demons out into the pigs. And here's what it says about the the villagers. When they come and find him, it says they find him sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. That phrase in his right mind is the same as same word is sober mindedness. He had clarity of mind. He was a completely different person. He was no longer the guy that was breaking chains and running around naked in the wilderness. I mean, imagine running into a person like that. I'm thinking of, I don't know if you remember back in the 80s, the the guys who would come, I think they even came to Valley View. The power team. You remember those big guys would come and break stuff for Jesus? I don't know how that all fit together, but I thought it was fun to watch. Imagine one of those guys. After the service is over, they strip off all their clothes and run off into Jefferson Memorial Forest to live. I would never hike there again. You go nowhere near there. That would be a scary dude. But then you show up one day and there he is, fully clothed in his right mind. Sober minded. God had gotten a hold of him and radically changed his life. To be sober minded is to be clear minded, to be able to hear from the Lord. I'm not distracted by other things. Now, how does that happen? That's what we want. None of us want to sit down, to pray and be distracted. The other phrase is the key to that. Be sober minded. Be self-controlled for the sake of your prayers. Here's the reality. And this is the hard thing to point out about prayer. The reason prayer is hard is not because prayer is hard. It's because we make it hard. The reason I'm distracted during prayer is because of what I've already put into my brain that distracts me. That's what requires self-control. I've got to have the self-control to say, I'm not going to consume this trivial nonsense or anything that will pull my heart away from Christ, because the moment I want a prayer is when it'll all come back to mind. Even if it's not sinful, if it's just meaningless nonsense. And I think we all can say I've spent too much time consuming things that later show up when I try to pray. And I want to say, therefore, that prayer is hard. I want to make it about prayer being hard. But in reality, I've filled up my heart with the things that will distract me from prayer. And I did it willingly, and I did it because I wanted to. And I did it because I wanted to distract myself from life. I didn't want to be sober minded. This is all hard to say because it's true of me too. I hope it doesn't feel like I'm dumping on you. It's us. It's all of us. It's just true of life. We want to take the easier path. But here's what's at stake. If I want to see God move through revival, through prayer. If I want to be a part of that, through prayer that requires self-control to say, I'm not going to fill up my mind with things that will distract me in times of prayer from him. In fact, I want to give a challenge here before we get into the other few points, just right here in the middle, I want to just give a brief challenge to you. Before I give the challenge, let me just ask you, if I could give you a pill right now and it would end distraction to prayer and would end anxiety in your life. Would you want that pill? That's awesome. Hands shoot up pretty fast. I don't even know what it is. I don't even need to know the side effects. You can put those at the bottom of the screen and mumble them. Just give me the pill. Well, there's no pill. There isn't for anything hardly, by the way. But I think most of our anxiety, in fact, there's been a lot of studies to show this to be the case. Most of our anxiety and distractions come from two things news and social media. And so here's what I want to challenge you to do. Take this week, starting today. Starting right now, through this same time next week. And just do a fast from social media and the news for a week. In fact, if you're going, I need that. I desperately need that. I'm I'm going to give you a challenge. In just a second, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand. That'll really see how serious we are about it. If you're going no, I want to do that. I'm not sure I can, but I want to, I need that. I need to be free from anxiety. The number one factor stirring up anxiety in our world has been shown through extensive studies. Colby and I just read a whole book on this. Social media alone. Doesn't mean it's all bad, but our excessive use of it. So take a break for a week, see what happens. See if your anxiety goes down. See if your prayer life increases. So here's here's what I’m going to do. I'm going to ask if that's something you want to do this week. Just raise your hand. Now go ahead and raise your hand. All right. Now keep them up. Keep them up. Because I want you to look around at someone around who also has their hand up. And don't judge those who don't. By the way, they probably already don't use social media. Keep them up and pick one person. Because here's the key to doing anything like this is accountability and encouragement. Pick one person. Keep them up for just a little bit longer. Pick one person and say, hey, can we encourage one another this week? I'm not going to look at social media. Can I text you and be an encouragement and just check in each day? How's it going? How's it going? Oh, right. You can put them down now. Oh. Restore feeling to your arms. At the end of the week, just see what God does through that. See what he does with your anxiety, with your prayer life. Check in on one another. Encourage one another. And watch him work. The end is near. Time is short. How are we going to live differently? Part of it is prayer. Third way. Love the overlook. Love the overlook. Let's talk about what that means. Look here in verse eight. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. I love this language about love. Keep loving one another earnestly in our day and age. Love is solely defined as a feeling. You can fall in and out of it, and no one really knows why or not. You can feel it strongly. Therefore you have to act on it, or it can not be there at all. And you can ignore commitments. But Scripture says that love is the opposite of that. First Corinthians 13. Go, go and read that this week. One of the phrases in there love endures. Love is not just how I feel. Love is the opposite of that. Love is how I act when I don't feel like it. In fact, do you want to know who really loves you? Who is there in the hard times? Who is there when it all falls apart? That's who loves you. The prodigal son learned who really loved him wasn't his friends. The money ran out. The fun times ran out. They weren't there. Who was there? It was his father who had been staring down the road looking for him and came running to embrace him, to weep over him. That's who loved him. I've got a friend whose daughter. As soon as she was old enough, she said, I'm out of here. I don't want anything to do with your all’s direction in my life, and he has been praying and praying for her. Praying for the good times to run out. And just a week or two ago, she called him and said, dad, will you come get me? Sure. You know, we're talking 4 or 5 hours away. When do you want me to come? Now. I've got to make a change now. Will you come? She found out who loved her. He dropped everything. Love endures. Love keeps on. The words here - keep loving earnestly - earnestly also can be translated continually. Keep loving. That's what biblical love is now. The point he's making here, specifically about the context of love. He says love covers a multitude of sins. What does that mean? What does it mean to cover up sin? You know, there's different ways to take that. Cover sin could mean hiding it. No we don't. That's not what we mean. What does he mean by the context here of love covers a multitude of sins. He's actually quoting or inferencing an Old Testament verse. Surprise, surprise. Peter loves to quote the Old Testament. In fact, turn to the book of Proverbs.

We'll see this here in Proverbs 10: 24:23

12. Proverbs is going to be the page number on the screen, but Proverbs is going to be pretty close to the middle of your Bible. If you find Psalms, go to the right just a little to get to Proverbs. Proverbs is one of my favorite books to read. Many people, in fact, if you find yourself stuck in a rut with reading the Bible. Proverbs has 31 chapters. Whatever day of the week it is, just pick that day of the week and read that chapter of Proverbs. You will find something in there that will speak to you that day. It's called the Book of Wisdom. We all need wisdom. But Proverbs chapter ten, verse 12. Many believe this is the verse that Peter is quoting or referring to. It says hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. Hatred. And so here's the contrast. Hatred stirs up problems, stirs up strife, stirs up contention. But love covers offenses. Love looks past offenses. Loves, doesn't dwell on every little thing you might do wrong. Love is going to look over that. In fact, love is going to diffuse, not stir up. Love is going to unite. Not divide. We're called to be those kind of people who do defuse conflict, not stir it up. And of course, unless we're talking about potential snowball fights between key church members, that's okay to stir up. I tried stirring that up last week. It didn't happen. I'm still praying that it does. We'll see. Pray for more snow. Whoa. I got a strong response. We'll see what your prayer life’s like this week, right? I'll pray for snow. Anyway... Love covers a multitude of sins. It looks past. That’s who we’re called to be. And I've had friends who say it seems like every relationship I'm in is full of tension. Well, guess who the common denominator is in all those relationships? Be a defuser, not a stirring up of hate. One who overlooks. Love to overlook. And then, number four, if you turn back to First Peter. Open your door. Open your door. Look at verse nine. How do we live when time is short? Show hospitality to one another. And a key phrase here, without grumbling. Oh, and by the way, before I get into point four, let me comment on this. Love overlooks sin. This doesn't mean, though, there are some sins that we do need to pause and stop down and deal with. We don't just pretend nothing happened. Great example. We are not going to tolerate anyone who crosses boundaries that we've set up in our our children's ministry. We have things set up to protect our children. And if you can't abide by those, we'll do our best to run you off. We really will. That's how much we care about these kids. Those sins can't be overlooked. Do you understand the balance here? Right? I'm talking about when I say the overlooked, the little things that we want to make a big deal out. That shouldn't be. But then there's other sins that cannot be overlooked. And shame on us if we do overlook them. I hope that Valley View is always a place that protects children and women in particular. That everyone, every child, every woman feels safe here. And if we're not doing that well, please tell me. Come to me. And we want to work on it. We want to be a place that values that highly. So there's a balance here to that. Love overlooks reality, but fourth open your door. Hospitality. Look back. Let me read this verse again since I went on a little bit of a tangent. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. Hospitality. And I think the context of the Old Testament scriptures in particular, was opening your home to others. It was a very common practice then. People say there weren't as many hotels and things and there probably wasn't, but they were probably were in most towns, a home that was known as a place that would rent out rooms in particular. I think hospitality in this day and age is one of the most powerful ways to show the gospel to people, to open the door to the gospel because there are plenty of people who will never come in the door of this church, at least not yet. But they come in your home. You invite them over. They let you feed them. They feel comfortable in your home. Maybe not completely, but they will come in your home. Open your door. Think of that neighbor who wants nothing to do with church, who probably wants nothing to do with you sometimes, or that coworker. Every day you're encountering hundreds of people who don't want to come here, but they come in your home. And we know this is important to Jesus, too. I mean, think about one of the most defining parables of scripture, the story of the Good Samaritan, who was the person that showed the man laying on the side of the road, half dead, who was the one that really loved him and is the one who picked him up, cleaned him off, took him to a home, cared for his needs. This whole idea of hospitality is close to Christ's heart. And we're in a weird stage as a culture where people don't like to have people in their home. It seemed like we used to do a lot more of that. Is that just me, or do you do you experience that as well? We did. We'd invite people over a whole lot more, hang out in others homes a whole lot more. But now it's like even as a pastor, if I show up knocking on your door, you're going to feel really weird. That used to be the expectation. The pastor is going to drop by and see me at some point. Now I know I better not do that. That's not welcomed anymore. It's a it's just a weird era. Which makes it stand out that much more when you do have someone in your home. That's the beauty of it. When someone is in your home, they go. There's something about this that I have missed. Now he gives a caveat. Unfortunately, he has to do this. Show hospitality without grumbling. Yeah. You know, there's nothing worse than being in someone's home and feeling like they don't really want you there. That's. That's not hospitality. You can't just check off the box. And. Yeah, I had someone over. I wasn't happy about it, but I had them over. That's not hospitality. They can feel that. I'm right here, you know. No, look. Hospitality is with joy. With delight. Meeting the needs of others. Julie and I, back when we were dating. I had a friend from college get married and got married in Pittsburgh and invited us to the wedding. And so we came up. But, you know, Pittsburgh's like a seven hour drive, and I didn't have we didn't have any place to stay there, and we weren't married, so we weren't going to, like, get a hotel room or something. And I didn't know anyone other than the bride and groom, but I wasn't going to ask to stay at their place. But that would have been awkward. So but I, I thought, well, I want to go to the wedding. We'll just drive up there seven hours, stay for the wedding, drive back. It would be a long day, but, you know, we're young. We can handle that. We show up at the wedding and they seat us with the pastor over the wedding thinking, hey, maybe they'll connect and hang out and talk about spiritual stuff. And as we're sitting there talking, we had the best time hanging out with this guy. It was so funny. I told him all the reasons Presbyterians were wrong. He told me all the reasons Baptists were wrong, and we just laughed and had the best time. And he made fun of my accent. I made fun of his and it was a great time. But as we talked, he learned that you drove here seven hours and you're going to turn around and drive back. Stay with us. Stay with us. Really? You’d do that? Yeah. I don't know, I can't, I can't do I had to do that. You know what I mean? That little perfunctory. Oh, I can't do that. Please ask again. Oh, please stay with us. And so we went and stayed the night there. I got the couch in the basement. Julie got the presidential suite upstairs. And then in the morning, come eat breakfast. And we just continued to talk about Scripture, talk about the gospel, encourage one another. I always remember their hospitality. They didn't have to do that. They didn't know me. He knew I wasn't going to join his church. I live seven hours away, but I thought about his Christian love. His hospitality, his opening the door without grumbling. I think that's a key to telling others about how much Christ loves us in this day and age. And then number five, look at verse ten-- as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. Number five use your gifts to serve. There's a temptation to view my spiritual gift as for me. Whether that's speaking or serving. And it's interesting that he didn't walk through every spiritual gift out there. He talks about two broad categories that sum up a lot of the spiritual gifts in the church. There are those who speak or teach or lead, and then there are often those who are more in a serving role. But here's the thing that he's drawing out here. Both have their temptations. Both have their challenges. One is not better than the other because both are tempted to rely on self. And the reminder here, for those who speak, speak as one who speaks the oracles of God. Now, that doesn't mean I think my words are the very words of God. No, I know that I'm up here talking about His word, and that carries a weightiness to it, and I need to be mindful of that. And I need to be intentional to make sure everything I'm doing is pointing you to his word. Not not my words. Look, this is all that matters. This is what's going to give you life. And so whoever is teaching or speaking, you speak in a way that is pointing people to the oracles of God, to his very word, where true life is found. The temptation is to think, well, what I say matters and how I do it. Of course. Yes, all that plays a part, but at the very core, it's God's Word that brings life. That's the temptation for those who speak. What's the temptation for those who serve? Look at what he says here. Serve as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. And I've seen it time and time again. For those who are in a service role-- and look plenty of people in a speaking role do it for their own glory and praise. But so do people in a service role at times. I hope others notice how much I'm doing for everyone else. I hope see others see me and praise me for my role in serving. And by the way, I hope we do praise and show gratitude to those who served. I mean, Isaac was up here saying, look, we need help on Sunday mornings. The reason we can gather and worship and enjoy music and all this everything time together is because of those who are serving in the background. It doesn't just automatically happen. Hours and hours and hours of work go into just this one hour or so on Sunday mornings. The temptation is to try to do it in our own strength. But we have to depend on Christ because that's where grace comes from. That's one of the ways we live when time is short. I recognize every day I can't live in my own strength. Time is short. I've got to be dependent on him. Now, the last way here, number six. Look at this last section of verses the second half of verse 11 through the end. Why is all this true? Why do we live with the end in mind? In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion, forever and ever. Amen. The sixth way to live in light of the end is to leave room for spontaneous praise. Leave room for praise. The interesting part of this sentence to him belong the glory, dominion, forever and ever. Amen. It's like a doxology. It's like he burst out in praise. But this also really summarizes up the main body of the book

from 2:11 to 4: 38:05

11. The main middle chunk of the book. And he ends it by just breaking out in praise. And if you have been dwelling on how you've been suffering and how to depend on Christ in the midst of suffering, and if you feel his peace and presence through that man, the response to that should be praise. We should break out in praise. Now there's another reason why, though it should lead to praise. If you know the end is coming. We should walk in gratitude. Because what's going to happen at the end? What's going to happen at the end of all things? I'm going to put a quote on screen from Tom Schreiner, and he wrote an article titled Why the Judgment is Good News. It's not an article title you hear every day. Why the judgment is good news. You don't often tend to put those together. We try to avoid the idea of judgment, but there will be a day at the end of all things. When Jesus comes to judge. But here's why that brings joy for those who know him. Look at it on the screen. It says, when we say Jesus saves, what does he save us from? If he doesn't save us from judgment, from the wrath of God on the last day, Jesus saves us from the judgment to come. For those who don't know him, that's what awaits them. And so when we look forward, when we know time is short, we can rejoice at that. Judgment is not for us, but also we know it is for some. And we walk with a heavy heart, praying, praying that God would move and continue to save and rescue.