1 Peter 4:7–19
“The end of all things is at hand; therefore keep sane and sober for your prayers. Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
We have been in the end times ever since Christ ascended into heaven. The world is coming to a close, the universe is winding down, and the Son of Man will soon be spotted “coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. And he was given dominion, glory, and kingship.” So it will be at the last day. There will not be a question in anyone’s mind that Christ has returned, for He will reveal His glory on “the great and terrible day of the Lord.” All shall look to the heavens and see the forces of the King of kings exploding from the skies, the warrior angels coming to put and end to the reign of terror, the end of Satan’s power. Then the great Battle of Armageddon will take place, with the final defeat of the forces of darkness and evil, and Satan will be “thrown into the lake of fire.” Think about that! The end of evil for all time, the second creation, the perfect creation of the Lord, where no deceiver can come and tempt the sons of men into wrongdoing. There, love will abound, each doing good for his neighbor, the Lord will walk among us, and we shall sing praises to His Name forevermore! We must always be working with this end goal in mind: to be allowed to sing praises to the Name of the Lord in glory. Nothing should stand in our way of attaining this goal, not sin, not evil, not death, for the Lord has already overcome all of these things. Pray, lest you return to your old ways of sin and wickedness, for it is easy to let our guard slip for just a moment and be caught by the devil unawares. Always, always have your guard firmly set in place, your jaw continually set against the devil and his evil ways, always with the Sword of the Spirit in your hand, unsheathed, ready to be unleashed on any attacker that may come your way. We are called to “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” Men, at the time of this ancient writing, always had to be ready for a fight, for conscription into the Roman army, or a false accusation of wrongdoing (Read: Ben-Hur) was always possible. We must ever be alert, not just against the waves of evil men that surround us, constantly barraging us with wickedness, but also the attacks that come from within. The self-enticing desires, one might say. The sins that we keep inside, that no one else ever knows about. A little lust, a little hatred, maybe a smidgen of gluttony or sloth, and sin follows like an armed man, stealing our graces and driving us from the cross of Christ. There are degrees of severity to sins, but any sin remains sin, and is therefore abhorrent to the Lord, enough to drive us from His Presence, and should be eliminated. For the smallest sin, suppose you tell a single white lie in your life, and never sin again, that is enough to be condemned by the Lord, for none of us can live a perfect life. That is the weight of sin, that is the despicable power it carries, that it separates us from the Lord both now and forevermore. My dear friends, avoid wickedness at all costs! Do not entertain the idea of wrongdoing, for that drives you from the Lord! If Satan can get his foot in the door of your heart, then he can throw open wide the gate to allow a multitude of evils in. Do not allow him to even peek in your front window! Send a guard outside to fight for you, the Lord Almighty, will lend you some of His infinite strength to deny the devil and slash him through his wicked heart.
As Peter states above, “love covers a multitude of sins,” which calls back to the parable of the sheep and the goats. For we are called to emulate Christ in all that we do, and He cared for the sick, He cared for the poor and needy, the widows and orphans. We must do our very best to welcome the outcasts, to shine the love of the Lord among them! This love, however, does not mean complete acceptance of all that they do. The progressive church likes to take this word “love” and expound it to mean ‘overarching love that even ignores sins. You are perfect the way you are, and, since God loves you, there is no need to change.’ What a wicked false doctrine! Yes, the Lord loves us, however, He does not love the evil things in which we partake. He loves us enough to send His only Son to wipe away the wickedness of our lives, but this in no way means we are to continue in our old ways. No, time and time again, Christ, when He healed someone, would tell them to “go and sin no more,” this is not a declaration that He condones sin, rather that He would do anything to remove the stench of sin from us. When Christ healed the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda, He told him to “Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” Yes, love covers a multitude of sins, but we cannot claim to love Christ and keep on sinning. It is a strict either or: either we love Christ and forsake sin, or we love ourselves and continue in the wicked practice. Which is it? There is no room for wishy washiness, for that leads to sin, and sin leads to destruction. This is an urgent warning, beloved, for we must forsake sin at the first chance we get, which would be immediately. Right now. Do not hesitate. Do not waffle on a certain sin that pleases you, eliminate it, unequivocally. Despise it with a fiery passion, let the hatred for the works of the devil consume you, so that there is nothing more you hate than evil.
Love the Lord, dear Christian, and deny the devil. We can bring no greater glory to the Lord than perfect obedience to His commands, therefore praise Him in all that you do! Bring glory to His Holy Name through your every thought, word and deed. Spread the Gospel, wherever you may be, and bring glory to His Name! Praise the Lord! He is Holy!
