◆“The Watchman’s Mission” (1 Peter 4:17–19) November 10, 2024

Sermons about judgment are not very popular.
That’s why they’re rarely preached.
Topics like God’s love, your worth, and blessings in life—these are popular.
What’s called the “Easy Gospel” or the “Prosperity Gospel” is especially appealing.
A man named Kenneth Hagin is often called the father of the Prosperity Gospel.
His message is:
“It is always God’s will to bless you with financial prosperity and good health. Material wealth increases through faith, positive declarations, and donations to religious work.”

However, God does speak of judgment.
And we must speak about it too.
A messenger who does not speak of it is like the prophets in the Old Testament who said, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace.
In the New Testament, 2 Timothy 4:3 warns:

“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

The truth is that Christian joy cannot be separated from judgment.
As 1 Corinthians 15:3 says:

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

This is what is most important.
The heart of the gospel.
Even if we forget everything else, we must not forget this:
Christ came for our sins,
took our judgment in our place,
died,
and rose again.
This is the source of Christian joy,
strength,
and the power to live.

Now, verse 18 of today’s passage contains something that stands out:

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved…”

The “righteous” here does not refer to moral people or those of high character,
but to those who have come to know Jesus as Savior—Christians.
Yet even Christians are “barely saved.”
This doesn’t mean that God was reluctant or barely decided to save us.
Rather, it shows how absolutely necessary Christ’s atonement was for our salvation.

We cannot claim, “But I had some good in me. I was righteous in some ways.”
Isaiah 64:6 (Japanese colloquial translation) says:

“All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”

But to replace those filthy rags, we Christians have been clothed with Christ.
As Isaiah 61:10 declares:

“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness.”

God is that serious about our sin—that He would send His most beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

So then, what are we to make of verse 17?

“For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household;
and if it begins with us…”

What kind of judgment is this?
First, we must understand that the word “judgment” here means to evaluate or assess.
It is not about deciding whether or not Christians are saved or whether they will enter heaven.
The judgment of sin has already been dealt with.

The judgment referred to here is an evaluation of how we lived out our faith.
1 Corinthians 3:10–15 explains:

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it.
But each one should build with care.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,
their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.
It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.
If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.
If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.”

This primarily applies to how pastors and leaders build the church,
but the principle applies to individuals too.
The foundation is Christ—so sin is forgiven.
But what kind of house are we building on that foundation?
What kind of faith life are we living?
That is what is being evaluated.

And this is a word of encouragement:
To listen to the Lord,
to obey Him,
to walk with Him.
To support the church,
to build a life of faith centered on it.
This is being encouraged.

Returning to 1 Peter:

“If the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

This refers to those who have rejected Jesus,
those who treated the cross and salvation as unnecessary or unimportant.
They will face a different kind of judgment.
It is known as the Great White Throne judgment.

Revelation 20:11–15 describes it:

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.
The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.
Another book was opened, which is the book of life.
The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them,
and each person was judged according to what they had done.
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
The lake of fire is the second death.
Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Now we understand why sermons about judgment are unpopular.
They are frightening and uncomfortable to hear.
But those who reject Christ
or are indifferent to Him
must bear the judgment for their own sins themselves.

Now, finally, we arrive at the title of today’s message.
We are blessed to have come to know Jesus.
We have come to know salvation.
But this good news is not ours to keep to ourselves.
As those who have been saved first, we have a mission to tell others.

Let us read Isaiah 52:7 to conclude:

“How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”

You are beautiful in the eyes of the Lord—
a bearer of good news.
The Holy Spirit is with you.
He will use you.
Your testimony may feel clumsy,
your faith journey may feel flawed.
But God will use even that imperfection
to proclaim the gospel to your family,
your friends,
and your community.

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Sermon script modified based on proofreading and translation with ChatGPT.