Significant Assertion, Two Sobering Q.s

1 Pe. 4:17-18 1 Peter

Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds 1 Peter 4:17-18, asserting that the 'fiery trial' believers experience is God's disciplinary judgment beginning in His own house, the Church. He clarifies that this judgment is for sanctification, not condemnation, and uses Old Testament passages to show this motif. Martin then poses two sobering questions from Peter's text: 'What shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?' and 'If the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?' The pastoral application is for believers to embrace their sufferings as God's loving discipline, and for unbelievers to seriously consider their eternal end.

2 illustrations in this sermon

Illustration: The Judge as Father

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The Judge in Court vs. Father at Home

In this part of the sermon: An extended illustration of a judge acting in his courtroom versus as a father in his home is used to distinguish between God's condemnatory judgment for the wicked and His…

A detailed analogy of a man who is a judge in a courtroom and also a father disciplining his children at home. This illustrates the difference between God's pure justice for the ungodly and His loving, disciplinary judgment for His children, the church, clarifying the meaning of 'judgment' in 1 Peter 4:17.

He has paid his dues to gain a very thorough acquaintance with law and with justice, and he has eventually made his way into a very prestigious sphere of legal responsibility. He is the duly appointed judge in a specific courtroom. Day after day, at an appointed hour, he goes into his chambers, he puts on his robe, he enters the courtroom, and the court, whoever he is in the uniform that says, will all rise, and he is announced, and he sits in his judgment seat. He sits at his bench.

22:02 - 22:39 Read in full sermon

Direct Application to Unbelievers: Consider Your End

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The Young Man and the Old Man's Question

The point: Take this day and for five minutes sit in quietness, no images, no sound, and think: 'What shall be my end if I go on disobeying the gospel of God?' and 'Where shall I appear before the assembled multitudes?'

A story of a brilliant, ambitious young man outlining his life plans to an old, wise Christian man. The old man repeatedly asks 'And then?' until the young man is forced to confront his mortality and the ultimate question of his eternal destiny. This serves as a powerful evangelistic call to unbelievers to consider their end.

About every five years I tell what was passed on to me in a book. It's a true story and I close with this. The old man, wise Christian man,

65:06 - 65:19 Read in full sermon

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