Inevitable Opposition Part III 1 Peter 4:12-19

The Normal Experience of Persecution for Believers

Understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer. Persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer. And what I've found in these verses is seven reasons why.

We have seen the first five over the last two Sundays. What we have seen is that the believer should not be surprised that the Lord uses these trials to test your faithfulness, your experience is similar to that of Christ's.

God's favor is upon those persecuted for Christ's sake. God's favor is not upon those who do wrong and suffer for it. And the fifth reason why is those who suffer for Christ have no reason to be ashamed.

That's what we've seen thus far in these verses. Now this leads us to today's sermon where we will see the sixth and seventh reason why you are to understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer.

But before we look at these six and seven reasons why, I'm going to read the whole text again. 1 Peter 4, verses 12 -19. So I encourage you to turn there with me at this time. We've been in 1 Peter since June.

And so now we're getting towards the end here. 1 Peter 4, verses 12 -19. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.

And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the Gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

The Final Judgment of Believers and Unbelievers

Here's the sixth reason why. You are to understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer. The sixth reason why is the world that opposes the righteous will stand condemned at the final judgment.

The world that opposes the righteous will stand condemned at the final judgment. Last week we saw that those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake are blessed by God and should not be ashamed, even though the persecutors desire to shame disciples of Christ.

What we saw is the flip side to that. If believers are not to be ashamed when the world opposes them, their persecutors are to be ashamed. To go down the wide path of the world, to do the devil's will, to go down that path, there is no honor.

There's only shame. With that in mind, Peter focuses on the contrast between the believer and the unbeliever in verses 17 and 18. Peter wants his believing readers to know the future gloom of their persecutors.

Let's first look at verse 17 where Peter once again writes,. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

In this verse, Peter writes that judgment begins with believers. When he writes, household of God, that's what he's referring to. He's referring to believers. When we first read this, it might surprise us.

We might think that the judgment is only for the unbeliever. But Scripture teaches here and in other places that all Christians will stand before God at the final judgment. The Apostle Paul writes about this for believers in 2 Corinthians 5 .10.

There he writes,. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. There are two primary judgments in Scripture.

There's actually more than two judgments. There's a judgment to get into the millennium, and that's known as the judgment of the nations. But there's really two primary judgments at the very end of the story, at the very end of the age, and that is the judgment seat of Christ and the great white throne judgment.

And what I just read in 2 Corinthians 5 .10 describes the judgment of believers. This is known as the judgment seat of Christ. It's also known as the bema seat. The judgment seat of Christ is not a judgment where people find out if they make it to heaven or not.

Everyone at the judgment seat of Christ will be in heaven. But not everyone's experience in heaven will be the same. As 2 Corinthians 5 .10 says, People will stand before Jesus to receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Every believer covered by the blood of Christ will have lived a life indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Some of these works will have been good works as one yields to the Holy Spirit, while other works will have been bad following one's own desires.

The Christians who are more faithful in this life will experience a greater reward in the age to come. People wonder what that reward is. And my short answer is that believers with more reward will have closer proximity to Jesus and more responsibility entrusted to them.

You can see this in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. You were faithful with this and you will have authority over this. But we will reign with Christ. So there's more responsibility, there's more joy, there's more capacity for joy for the one who's in closer proximity to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So what Peter is telling us in our text is that believers are judged. As he writes once again, it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. And this is not the only judgment of the final judgment, but also what he's highlighting here is also the discipline that comes with being a follower of the Lord.

This discipline Peter described in 1 Peter 1, 6 -7 that we saw several months back. The Lord purifies His church. And in that way, it's a kind of judgment. In other words, the Lord is willing to do hard things to the church.

The church, of course, is not a building. It's the people of God. He's willing to do these things in order to refine you. Just as gold is refined, as 1 Peter 1, 6 -7 says. He does this to get you where you need to be.

To make you who He wants to make you. So we see the Lord's judgment upon believers through the final judgment and the discipline they experience in order to be purified. Then Peter continues by transferring his focus from believers to unbelievers.

As he writes in the remainder of verse 17, if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the Gospel of God? The Gospel is...

What is the Gospel?

We need to be able to say this. 1 Peter 3, 15 says, always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have. What is the Gospel? The Gospel is God created everything good. The fall happened. Sin comes into the world.

A Savior is promised. The Savior comes to the earth on a rescue mission to save sinners. And anybody who believes in Him has eternal life. At the cross, He bore the whole fury of the wrath of God. God's wrath was exhausted.

So that if you believe in Him, His favor comes upon you. Instead of His wrath being towards you, His favor is upon you. That's the Gospel. And it's God's Gospel. He's given it to the world. It's good news.

Now, when Peter says, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the Gospel of God? What Peter means by obey is belief. Paul writes in Romans 10, 16, that they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what He has heard from us?

The Apostle John also writes obey in this way in John 3, 36. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. To reject Jesus, to reject that you need Jesus to save you, and He is the only One who can save you, is to receive the forever sentence of hell.

That's the judgment upon anybody who rejects the Gospel of God. When a person takes his or her last breath, and that person is still in their sins, meaning his or her sins have not been forgiven, only judgment awaits.

In the future, these unbelievers will stand at what is called the great white throne judgment. So to make this clear, the believers will stand at the judgment seat of Christ, while the unbeliever will stand at the great white throne judgment.

And this judgment no one wants to be at, because if you're at this judgment, it means you will not enter heaven. The Apostle John writes about this gloomy judgment in Revelation 20, verses 11 -15. He wrote,.

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them.

And they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

At this judgment, two books are listed. The first book is a personal book that everyone has. The works of each person who have lived down through history are written in these books. Since the great white throne judgment is a judgment for unbelievers, none of their works are Spirit-generated, God-honoring works.

1 Corinthians 10 .31 says, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. Believers can do that. You can do things to the glory of God. Unbelievers are unable to do that because they are not indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

So even works that are good, like giving a cup of cold water to someone, or helping someone walk across the street, or maybe somebody is short on change at a grocery store, and a person comes and pays that money for them.

Those are good works. Those are kind things. Opening up a door for someone. Saying a kind word to someone. Unbelievers can do these things, but they're not done for the glory of God. And because they're not done for the glory of God, He's not pleased.

Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin, as Romans 14 says. So we need to understand that. The only way God is pleased with our works is if we have the Spirit in us. If we do it for His glory. So what we see here is that these unbelievers, they have works.

But none of their works are pleasing to the Lord at the end of the day. These are people who were never saved. They never truly believed that Christ died and rose again. And so their works are dead. Since these people at the great white throne judgment rejected Christ and don't have any God-honoring works to their name, their name is not found written in the book of life.

The book of life, of course, has the name of everyone in history who is redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. I once heard it said that the names are written with His blood. But sadly, none of these people will have their names written in this book.

What Peter is describing in verse 17 is the contrast between believer and unbeliever. To be at the judgment seat of Christ will be frightening enough. At that judgment for believers, Jesus will stare into your soul.

He will know everything about you. He will know where you have failed. And He will also know where you have been faithful. But even for the believer who knows He is going to heaven, even at that judgment, there will be trembling as believers stand before the judge of all the universe.

Everyone at that judgment will know that it is only because of Jesus that one will receive entrance. Nothing in my hands I bring. Only to the cross I cling. That will be our mindset at the judgment. The only reason I'm here is because of what Christ did for me.

What Peter is driving home here is that if there is trembling for the believer, think of the trembling for the unbeliever. As Peter once again asks at the end of verse 17, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the Gospel of God?

The outcome for the unbeliever, as I've already read and explained, is the lake of fire. Revelation 20 .15. When Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet were defeated, when they are defeated at the end, Scripture says that they are thrown into the lake of fire.

And Revelation 20 .10 describes this horrible place. This false trinity, the devil, the Antichrist, and the false prophet. What Scripture says is that they were thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

This is the same destination for every unbeliever as Revelation 20 .15 once again describes. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. As people stand before Jesus at the great white throne judgment, you can picture it.

The unbeliever stands before Jesus. Jesus knows their heart. He knows all of their heart. These people can't fool Him. They might have been able to fool people.

In their life,.

But they can't fool Him. He knows their wicked deeds and He delivers the verdict.

Guilty.

Some of the people there will think that they were saved, but really they were false Christians. This is the most sobering part of all. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus described what it will be like for some people at the final judgment in Matthew 7 .21 -23.

He says,.

"...Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to Me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and do many mighty works in Your name?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.". None of these phony Christians truly did the works of God. And at the final judgment, Jesus will declare that they never truly belonged to Him.

They, along with the pagans whom no one would confuse for Christians in this life, will all be thrown into the lake of fire where those who go there will experience misery for all eternity. What Peter writes in verse 17 is he says something similar in verse 18.

And what he does in verse 18 is he quotes an Old Testament verse. That verse is Proverbs 11 .31. This is what he writes in verse 18 that derives from this Old Testament proverb. And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?

Now, Proverbs 11 .31 in the Hebrew says, if the righteous is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner? That's the ESV version. That's the version we use at this church. Interestingly, what Peter quotes is the Septuagint.

The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. And this translation happened between the Old Testament and New Testament periods. And the reading is a little bit different than the pure Hebrew reading in our Bibles.

What it sounds like Peter is saying is that the believer is barely saved. And the NIV version captures this well. That version says, if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?

If it's hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Now, to say that a believer is barely saved does not line up with what the Bible says about followers of Jesus.

True believers are firmly saved. John 10 .27 -28, My sheep hear My voice. I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of My hand.

The Father, who is greater than I, no one will snatch them from His hand. A believer's name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And the Lamb's Book of Life is written with a utensil that doesn't have an eraser.

No name can ever be scratched out. In fact, Scripture says that believer's names were written in the book before the foundation of the world as Revelation 13 .8 says. So, Peter is not saying that believers are barely saved.

What he is saying is that the righteous are judged by God. They are judged through discipline. 1 Peter 1 .6 -7 They are refined by fire through trials that God brings your way. And they're judged at the judgment seat of Christ.

God scrutinizes His church. In that sense, believers are scarcely saved. Because once you are saved, the Lord is always working on you to make you more holy. And that's a long process because our sin runs so deep.

Then Peter writes in 2nd Adam 18 that if the righteous are saved in this way, then what does that mean for the unbeliever? What Peter is doing is stating a rhetorical question. When there's a rhetorical question, the answer is obvious.

So we need to follow Peter's logic. In verse 17 and 18, he said, if believers are judged and believers are scarcely saved, what does that mean for unbelievers? It means that their judgment is very severe.

God is pretty hard on His church as He sanctifies His church. As He even judges them to see how faithful they were in this life and then rewards them based on how faithful they were. If He does this to the believer, then what is it like for the unbeliever?

The unbeliever will face the full fury of the wrath of God in hell. How much harder is he going to be on those who are godless? And there is nothing redeemable about their judgment. Sometimes there's some false views out there about hell that there's post-mortem salvation.

Like they can go there for a time, and in fact, Roman Catholicism teaches this, that there's purgatory. They can face their judgment and then after they've been judged for a certain period of time, they get to go to heaven.

The Bible doesn't teach that. The unbeliever will forever be under God's judgment. There is no second chance. Hebrews 9 .27 says that it's appointed for man to die once and then comes judgment. It's a sobering reality to ponder.

So, everything in Scripture is written in context. So we need to understand this in context. In the context of this text, Peter wants his readers to understand that their persecutors, the people we've seen over the last couple weeks, their persecutors who never bow their knee to Jesus, this is their future.

The outcome for their unbelieving persecutors is eternal destruction in the lake of fire. And his believing readers knew that it is only by the grace of God that they are saved. Once they were saved, their life was not their own.

They were to live for Christ and live for Him in the midst of hostility. Peter wants them to understand that the Lord will judge their persecutors. The future of their persecutors will be devastating.

The believers were not to be jealous of their persecutors, nor were they to be vengeful. A dreadful judgment was coming unless they repented. And they were to leave it to God. And they were to understand this.

And we need to understand this in our lives. When unbelievers are hostile towards you, unless they repent, this is their future. The Lord will do right. He notices every evil deed done against you because of your allegiance to Christ.

The world often tramples upon Christians in this life. But there is a dark future for those who treat God's people.

In this way.

This we need to be reminded of. They hold no advantage over you. What awaits them in the future is dark as they will stand before the judge of all the universe. And we need to understand this about this life.

1 John 5 ,19 says that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. It does. Satan wins in this life most of the time. I mean, think about how many victories he scores every single day as people walk away from the Lord, as people plunge themselves into more and more immorality.

That's what he wants to do.

He wants to convince as many people as possible not to follow the Lord, to just go their own way. And what they're really doing is they're following Him. They're following His will. This is the world we live in.

And we need to understand that it looks like the evil wins in this life, but they don't in the end. That's how the story goes. So understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer.

And the sixth reason why is that the world that opposes the righteous will stand condemned at the final judgment. And here's our seventh and final reason why you are to understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer.

Trusting the Sovereign God Who Uses Opposition for Good

And that is that the believer can trust that the Lord uses every opposition for one's good. This is how Peter closes this section on persecution.

Verse 19,.

"...Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.". Now what's interesting is that we've seen this theme of persecution throughout this letter.

So he's kind of closing it by saying you need to hear this. This is the last thing you need to hear as we talk about opposition from the world. What you need to hear is that you who suffer according to God's will must entrust your souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

That's what you need to hear. In 1 Peter 3, 16 and 17, Peter wrote, "...when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will than for doing evil.".

What Peter highlights is that your suffering is God's will. In our text, Peter is highlighting that you should take great comfort in the reality that God, His sovereignty is over any suffering that you face.

In particular, in our text, he's talking about the suffering of opposition from the world. And this is where we need to be reminded that God is good, and He is loving, and He is wise. Over the last several weeks, Alan Walker has been leading a wonderful Sunday School class on creationism.

And in one of the classes, he talked about all the ways that our earth is fine-tuned for life. Alan said that this evidence shows the care of a loving and wise God who created it just right, and He sustains it.

When you look at the miracle of life that we enjoy on planet earth, and planet earth is the only place in the entire universe where there is life, there is a God who made this a special place. This earth was specifically made for God's image bearers to live your life, to enjoy your life, to enjoy God's blessing in this world.

And this is something we often take for granted. We should thank the Lord for the wonderful planet that He has created for us to live on. We can't live on Mars. We can't live on Jupiter. We can't live on Venus.

We can't live in some other galaxy. This is the place that God has placed us. And what a wonderful place it is. The same loving and wise God who created this earth for humans to live on is the same loving and wise God who rules your life.

Think about that.

Peter says this in verse 19. As you suffer, as you face opposition from the world, you need to understand who is writing the story of your life. Earlier I mentioned that at the final judgment, every person is going to have a book where your deeds are written down.

Unbelievers will have deeds that show they did nothing for the glory of God. Believers will have deeds that show they did in fact have Spirit-generated works that were done for the glory of God. Every life is a story.

Some lives are a story of tragedy. Some lives aren't tragedies, but they are mediocre. These stories are somewhat sad because one's potential was not achieved. Then you have lives that are triumphs where someone fulfills the purpose that God has for his or her life.

And I like to think of people's lives in three T's. The three T's I just mentioned. A tragedy,.

Tolerable,.

Triumph.

We should all desire to live triumphant lives for the glory of God. But what every Christian needs to understand is that God is writing your story. As he writes, you act out the story. As he writes your story, what he includes in that story is difficulty.

James 1 -2 says, He sends various trials your way. Every Christian will face adversity of some kind. Through adversity, the Lord desires for you to grow and He desires to test your character to see how you respond.

Sometimes we don't respond good to adversity. He sends various trials our way. Some trials may be physical health. Some may be mental. Some may be relational. Others may be different hurdles in your way.

At home, at work, with your neighbors. But the trials that Peter is focusing on in our text is opposition from the world. This world looks down upon you because you are associated with the greatest person of taboo in the history of the world.

Jesus Christ. He's the only person who never sinned, but the world hates the Jesus of the Bible. If you were to ask the average person, I've shared this before, Do you love Jesus? Do you think He was a good person?

Everyone will say yes. But then if you go through passage after passage in the Gospels of things He said, they get to the point where they actually have to take things out of the Bible because they don't like that Jesus.

They don't like the Jesus that the Bible presents. They like a Jesus of their own making. But true followers of Jesus love Jesus. They love the Jesus who's gentle around children. And then the one who berates the Jewish leadership.

The one who says convicting things to His disciples. But gentle words to the weak. And words of life that people need to hear. We love the true Jesus, but the world doesn't love the true Jesus. You are associated as a biblical Christian with the true Jesus.

This world hung Jesus on a cross. And they will at some level mistreat you as well. No Christian should ever think that he or she will not receive pushback from the world. You're not going to survive unscathed in this life as you follow Jesus.

And the closer you follow Him, the more opposition you will face. Once again, 2 Timothy 3 .12 says, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

And what you and I need to understand is that the same loving and wise God who made this earth perfectly for humans to live our lives on is the same loving and wise God who allows opposition to come your way.

Because we might think, shouldn't God be like the grandfather who just spoils his grandchildren? I'm not saying that every grandparent does that, but sometimes we can think of God in that way. He only does kind things to me.

And there's a category for what I'm saying in theology. It's called bitter providence. He sends hard things your way. You're going through your life. Everything is going great, and then something hard happens.

He's not going to let us be too comfortable for too long because He loves us too much to let that happen. He orders this in your life for your good. What you and I need to understand is that this is what God does.

And you might have family members who are hostile toward Christianity. And there's this constant tension between you and them. You may have co-workers who make fun of you because of your Christian faith.

You may lose your job because you are told not to do something that you must do to be faithful to Jesus. You may have people in your life that say things about you that aren't true. What if the state took away our church's tax-exempt status as the society continues to view churches in a more negative and negative light?

That would make things more difficult for us. What if the government tells our church that we can no longer preach the Gospel? That's opposition that the Lord may plan for us in the years ahead. It could happen.

We don't know what will happen, but it could. But what Peter said in the early part of this text in verse 12 is, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.

Opposition from the world is a normal part of the experience of the believer. What Peter is driving home in verse 19 is that every opposition you experience as you faithfully follow Him is happening according to the Lord's will.

He is writing your story, and He is meaning it all for your good. And all you have to do is look in the rearview mirror of your life to see that this is true. The same God who's done good for you in the past is the same God who's going to do good for you in the future.

You can think of the trials you've already faced. Mark and Keith and I were talking the other day and one of them told the story of a man who always checks the Bible to see if Romans 8 .28 is still there.

Romans 8 .28 says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. All things work together for good. And it's really hard in our narrow understanding of things to understand this, but it's true.

Scripture says that. Every Christian needs to understand that as you experience opposition from the world, a loving and wise God is willing it to happen, and it's meant for your good. With this in mind, you are to entrust your souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

As you faithfully follow the Lord, as you face opposition, you are to trust Him and continue to do good. Believers are not to be those who try to avoid persecution or draw back when it comes. When it comes, you are to trust Him and continue following Him closely, understanding that the loving and wise God you worship will take care of you.

His blessing is over you as you face this opposition. So to summarize this three Sunday sermon, if we did this in one sermon, it would have been a long one. So this is a three Sunday sermon. Understand, this is the big idea, understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer.

By the way, it's not the only thing you experience. You experience blessings, but it is a part of the experience. Over the last three Sundays in this text, we have seen seven reasons why. And here's to recap.

The believer should not be surprised that the Lord uses these trials to test your faithfulness. That's the first reason. Your experience is similar to that of Christ's. God's favor is upon those persecuted for Christ's sake.

His favor is not upon those who do wrong and suffer for it. Those who suffer for Christ have no reason to be ashamed. That's the fifth reason. The sixth is that the world that opposes the righteous will stand condemned at the final judgment.

And as we have just seen, the seventh reason is the believer can trust that the Lord uses every opposition for one's good. Just as the churches that Peter addressed faced opposition, so will you. Earlier in this long sermon, I quoted a Scottish church historian who said these powerful words about the Christian's experience of opposition in this life.

He said, God's truth is enduringly true through all generations. It transcends culture. The church is always going to be an embattled people. If it's swimming with the tide, it's not being the church of Jesus Christ.

Look to the past. Learn from the past. Because the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. This opposition will be the experience of the believer. But what a joy it is to follow the Lord, understanding that His blessing is over you.

Even the opposition that you experience is meant for good, meaning His blessing is still very much over you when these trials of opposition come. Now next Sunday, we will transition to chapter 5 where Peter gives important instructions to shepherds concerning shepherding the flock of God.

And shepherds have important responsibilities to carry out and so do the church members under their care. So we'll look at that next Sunday and two Sundays from now on Christmas Eve, we're going to have a Christmas sermon.