Where Judgment Begins - The House of God

This evening I direct your prayerful attention to 1 Peter chapter 4 and reading from our text verses 17 to 19. This evening is number 20 in the Epistles of Peter series and the subject where judgment begins, the house of God. Last week we looked at verses 12 to 16 and considered fiery trials. So for this evening from verse 17 to the end of chapter 4.

For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

1 Peter 4 verses 17 to 19. Really the subject is very well balanced in these three verses. If we are in any way greatly concerned with verse 17, that judgment should and must begin at the house of God. Yet we have a beautiful exhortation and encouragement in the last verse.

Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him. in well-doing as unto a faithful creator. That is our God and our God and the one that deals with his people. We need to always remember that when our Lord Jesus Christ suffered at Calvary, a judgment was already made. That judgment was that for those for whom Christ died, those that were given Him by His Father to redeem, that the wrath of God, the judgment due to their sin, the punishment due to their sin, was all laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that believe, those that are redeemed, need not fear the judgment deciding a judgment after death, whether they are the Lord's or no, and whether they shall answer for their sins or no. Because it is in this life that is the day of grace, and in this life the gospel is proclaimed, and the assurance of it, whosoever believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And that is settled in this life.

There is not a judgment to come in which the house of God shall be judged first and then the ungodly. What is spoken of here is in this time state, and then of course the ungodly is referring to that beyond the grave and the judgment throne of God. So I want to look with the Lord's help at these verses. Firstly, seven descriptions of the people of God where judgment must begin. Throughout these verses, there are these descriptions of the people of God, the house of God. Then secondly, how judgment is known in the house of God. What does it look like? What is it? If we have said it is in the day of grace, how is it evidence? What does it mean?

And then lastly, a most solemn comparison A comparison, if judgment begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? But firstly, there are seven descriptions here of the people of God. The first one is the house of God. The time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. The apostle says, whose house are we? A building of God, built of God, a holy temple unto the Lord. And so this is one description of the whole church of God, the whole people of God, as being the house of God. Another aspect is the house of God, where we gather together, where the church is identified, and as far as the world is concerned, or we might think if the house of God, we're thinking of our churches, the denominations, the people of God, and where we gather together in what we call the house of God.

So our idea is that this is where judgment shall begin. But this is also a description of the people of God. But secondly, it is us. If it first begin at us, what a blessed thing if we can come in and say, that by the grace of God, we are this house of God. And it is us, this verse, this what is speaking about the judgment, it concerns us. What good would it be if we had all of the other six descriptions of the people of God, but we were left out? It didn't apply to us. We weren't in it. Well, we would solemnly then be part of those that were not the house of God. So, again, a description is a blessed thing if we can say that it is us. We are part of the house of God. We are part of the description of God's people.

But thirdly, we have a description of those, and this is almost implied, who obey the gospel. The way it's put here is, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God, but the implication is, where judgment shall begin, the people of God are described as those who do obey the gospel of God. The gospel is a preceptive gospel. It is to be obeyed. When it is preached, then it has an effect, as in Acts 2, they were brought to repentance, they were brought to be baptized, they were brought to follow the Lord, follow the apostles, to be obedient children, not fashioning ourselves after the former conversation. but obedient to the word as followers of the Lord. I remember that the gospel is good news of salvation, but there's also that aspect where God's people have known, they're not just hearers, but they're doers of the word. They obey what the gospel says before them.

The fourth is a description that they are the righteous, if the righteous. God's people are accounted righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says their righteousness is of me. This is the name wherewith he shall be called the Lord our righteousness, and this is the name wherewith she, the church of God, shall be called the Lord our righteousness. God's people then are described as the righteous, and often it's contrasted the righteous and the wicked, and it's reflected in their lives, though it's in mixed with all we do, yet we are to live righteous. lives. So this is another description of the people of God, the house of God, where judgment shall begin, is with the righteous.

Another description is of those that scarcely are saved. In verse 18, again, if the righteous scarcely be saved, Now, let me be very clear, there is no almost in Christ's salvation. It is ordered in all things, and sure, it is certain. But in the feeling and experience of God's people, it is as if they are scarcely saying, we sung in our first hymn, what if my name should be left out, when thou for them shalt call? And there's that desire of salvation, a blessing of assurance when we rise to the assurance that we are the people of God and are saved. But very often it seems as almost ghastly or as put in another place by the skin of our teeth.

It is a work that is done through this day of grace and yet for God's people it might be an encouragement to some of you here who who hope who believe that you are saved and yet you you read here if the righteous scarcely be saved and you say i can come in there that is how i feel if i'm saved i'm i'm scarcely saved i'm just saved but the important thing is to be saved truly to be saved the sixth description is the godly and again it's does the opposite of what is put here in verse 18 where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear.

That means God's people are the godly. They live after God in this world, they acknowledge Him, they confess Him, they own Him, they walk according to His laws. God is in all their thoughts, whereas the wicked, God is not in all their thoughts, and they acknowledge Him. And their lives, they live godly, holy, upright lives. Yes, not sinless, not perfect, but they are marked out from the ungodly, a people that God knows, and they know God and acknowledge Him, and the world sees them as a godly people.

The seventh description is them that suffer according to the will of God. Wherefore, verse 19, that them that suffer according to the will of God. And some of the other verses in this passage, they speak of this same thing. And of course, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ suffered according to the will of God, not as an evildoer, not as a busybody in other men's matters, not as a thief, but one that was fearing God, serving the Lord, as in verse 16, if any man suffer as a Christian or as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And so you can glean through these verses and maybe a pattern that we notice in other scriptures as well, where there are various descriptions of God's people. We may not see ourselves under one, but we may be able to see ourselves under another.

It is the Holy Spirit, that describes the people of God in these various ways, fits them into what the Lord would have us to understand as the house of God, the people of God, where judgment must first begin. Well secondly then, how is this judgment known?

The first thing that we would say is that the Lord deals with his people, and deals with really anyone, according to the light that they have. Of whom much is given, much shall be required. And it's a very searching word for those of us that are in the ministry, those who minister to others, who profess the word of God. The Lord will hold us to a higher and stricter account than to others. But this is a day of grace, a day when the people of God are brought to see the Lord Jesus Christ suffering in their place, enduring the wrath of God.

So how does the Lord then deal and judge in this life. Well, this is why we read in Hebrews chapter 12, because Hebrews chapter 12 shows the real mark of a son or God's children. We read in verse six, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. And when we think of the last verse of our text, that we are to keep, commit the keeping of our souls to Him in well-doing, or those that suffer according to the will of God, we think of what is said here of chastening. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby.

Chastening by God is God judging his people. He is saying, my child is not walking according to my law and way. I will warn him through the word. If he doesn't listen to that, I will send the rod in providence or some other way, affliction, hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it. And it is God dealing with his people, judging with them as to their behavior and dealing with them in this life as a child.

We are also to exercise a discernment in who we actually walk with as brethren. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we read these words, and I'll find them and read them. Verses 9 through to 13, we are told this, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then must he needs go out of the world. We mix with all those sort of people in our jobs, in buying things, selling everything.

But then he says, but now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or idolater. So the church has said, you be a judge. You judge between your brethren. If you see those you're sitting down at the Lord's table with and he's acting in this way, don't keep company with them. Separate from them.

And we have the same judgment for verse 12, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without, do you not judge them that are within? So the church is actually acting on God's behalf and they are judging one another. And this comes through as well with the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 31, they were abusing the Lord's Supper They were weak and sickly spiritually. They were eating and drinking unworthily, treating it as a feast and for feeding their bodies instead of realizing it was a solemn service of God, a remembrance of the Lord's sufferings.

And he says in verse 31, for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, We are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. And this reinforces the teaching, the judgment that is spoken of, the house of God that is first, is in this life and is joined with chastening, is joined with the church of God itself exercising that judgment, which then brings to church discipline. In Matthew chapter 18, we have from verse 15, the directions as to what should happen.

If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever he shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." So his church discipline, it's the scripture order, keep it just between you and your brother first. If he doesn't hear, then bring some witnesses. If he doesn't hear them, then bring it to the church. And the church then judges the matter, and he's either restored or he's withdrawn from.

And so, What is meant of the judgment that is actually happening and done in this life is also the discipline in the Church of God. The Lord is the King in Zion. He orders Zion. He orders the Church and deals with them. as his children. And yes, our text speaks of it as judgment, but it's not the judgment that shall be upon those that are ungodly, those for whom Christ did not die.

And so we should be mindful of the Lord exercising that judgment in the church and the church of God doing it as well and think of it rather than a bad thing to be a blessed thing. It is a mark of the true church and of the people of God knowing how to deal with matters internally. Paul reproves the Corinthian church because they were going before unbelievers to settle matters, he said, know you not that you shall judge angels? Are you not able then to judge the smallest matters instead of going before the unrighteous and hearing them, or them hearing your complaints one against another? And so the Lord is in his church, he's over his church, and his church according to the word of God, They deal with one another and we see how Peter discerned it with Simon the sorcerer.

Philip had baptized him. He felt that he was a right believer. But when Peter comes and Simon sees that by laying on of hands the Holy Ghost is given, he offers money that he might do the same. But Peter says, there has no part nor lot in the matter, thy heart is not right before God. And there is a judgment that is made there, a discernment, that Peter is saying this one is not one of God's children, but just irrespective that they've been baptized. And so the church is exercising that judgment. Those that are brought to believe and follow the Lord They've not entered into a lawless state, into a state where they're unaccountable to God or to the church or to his servants or to one another, exhorted to be subject one to another.

And the Lord over all takes things in hand to chase and to correct his people. And by that he's virtually saying, I have suffered the wrath of God for you. You are my child and therefore I am doing this in your life. One of the most solemn judgments the Lord can make upon any person is to just leave them to themselves.

Let them get wealth and have prosperity and health and strength Just go through this life without any checks and without any troubles. You see the picture as Asaph saw it in Psalm 73. They had no bands in their death. They were not like the people of God who did have bands, who did have troubles.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all. And this is God's God's judgment, God's ordering for his people in this life. Judgment shall begin. And it's not only shall, for the time has come. You see, this is again points to this gospel day. Not the time is to come in some future or after death, but the time is come. That judgment must begin at the house of God in the day of grace, the day in which we live, the house of God being judged.

Well on to look then thirdly at this solemn comparison. If judgment begin at us, what of others? What of others? If it be first begin at us, It implies this, it begins at us, but it doesn't end with us. It might be those looking on and saying, look at the church with all their afflictions and their trials. We've escaped this. No, it begins at the church, but it doesn't end with the church.

What shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel? Those that are unsafe, those that are lost, those that are ridiculed, all the commands of the gospel, all the invitations of the gospel, all of the promises of the gospel, and they made light of it, what shall be the end of them? Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear if it be that the righteous seem to be just scarcely saved? If there's ever a passage that says a lot without actually saying it, It leaves it really for the hearer to fill in the gap.

To think and to meditate and may we do so. What a solemn thing if we are not of the house of God. We are not part of those. And we see all what the house of God suffer and what they go through and what is waiting for us. The natural fallen man thinks we've got away with it.

If there's a thief and they sneak into a store and they steal some things and they're not caught, they'll do it again and again because they've got away with it. Remember reading some time ago, you know on our underground system, you can tap in your credit card or tap in an Oyster card and you get to travel on the underground.

Well, this chap had found a way that he could get through the barriers and he didn't have to pay. And he thought he got away with that, thought he got away with it for five years. What he didn't know was that there was records of every single one. And in the end, he was jailed and given a bill for some 5,000 pounds. He hadn't got away with it at all. He thought he had. And we are like that by nature. But to go through this life and think God is far from my reins. He doesn't correct me. He doesn't pull me up. I know I'm sinning. I know I'm doing these things. I know I should be different.

But The Lord hasn't reproved me and he's still been with me. The children of Israel, you know, the Lord withheld not the manna from their mouths. But that didn't mean to say that they never did something wrong. He chastened them still. He corrected them still while he was feeding them.

And so we're left with this really searching thought here. If we are outside of the house of God, what a solemn position we are in. If we think that we have escaped the judgment-correcting, restraining hand of God here below, we haven't. It waits for us beyond the grave.

God's people know Him here. They know him as a heavenly father. They know him as one they have a filial fear of God before. You think of how the passage ended in Hebrews 12, wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire." Well, God's people, this side of the grave, as he judges with them, they don't find him a consuming fire. He doesn't consume them. lovingly corrects, chastens, judges them, but those beyond the grave, outside of Christ, a consuming fire, what a solemn end awaits. And so this is a searching end to this chapter, but it's very encouraging for the people of God that are suffering, that have fiery trials, that have strange trials, that have these things, that are really under the Lord's judgment, saying, chasten here, correct there, bring this trial, bring this providence, give them peace, but in the world tribulation, sanctify these things, bring them to prayer, bring them to me, bring them to know whose they are and whom they serve.

And to look upon it, this is the Lord dealing with his own house. The time is come, the day of grace, the day the Lord's dealing with his house. And Paul, when he writes, we read it in the Acts of the Apostles, in the end of chapter 17, He gives a reason as to why there must be that last Judgment Day. He says, though the ignorance of those that worshipped idols, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, that is to turn from every false god and every idol, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, that is Christ, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."

Assurance of all men of what? Assurance of the judgment, because Christ who suffered the righteous judgment and wrath of God for his people was raised again for their justification. But what of those others? What of those outside of Christ? There must be a judgment that they be judged, that they be condemned, that Christ did not suffer in vain for his people and the others be let off scot-free. No, everyone shall be judged, but God's people, the wrath is on Christ, his judgment in their lives in chastening, and those others that last judgment day.

And as Paul says, God has given assurance unto all men that there will be such a judgment, in that he hath raised him from the dead. May we be encouraged and bless the Lord. If he keeps us on a short reign, corrects us, sometimes gently, sometimes more severe, but we know something of the judgment in this life and have no need to fear that, which is to come. Amen.

Where Judgment Begins - The House of God

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Where Judgment Begins - The House of God

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About Rowland Wheatley

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