1.     The theme of Peter’s first epistle is suffering.  The Scofield Study Bible says, “The distinctive note of First Peter is preparation for victory over suffering.  The last-name word (“suffering”) occurs about fifteen times, and is the key-word to the Epistle.”

2.     This epistle refers often to the sufferings of Christ.  The Lord Jesus Christ is set forth as an example of one who suffered unjustly at the hands of wicked men (cf. 2:21ff).

3.     And because Christ suffered, we should expect to suffer.  Our Lord said that His followers should expect opposition from the world (cf. John 15:18-20; I Peter 4:4).

4.     Christians who are worldly and choose to mix in with the unsaved crowd manage to avoid persecution from the wicked, but they miss out on the blessings of God (cf. Heb. 11:24-26).

5.     On the other hand, those who live for God can expect some measure of persecution and suffering in this life.  The Bible says, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

6.     The great hymnwriter Isaac Watts put it this way:

Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His Name?
Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?
Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?
Sure I must fight if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.

7.     There are many admonitions in our text this morning.  Lord willing we will look at several of them, giving special attention to verse 7.

I.                  BECAUSE THE END OF ALL THINGS IS AT HAND, WE MUST BE SOBER & PRAYERFUL (4:7).

1.     Wicked sinners engage in “excess of wine” (4:3) and other worldly activities but Christians must be sober at all times.

2.     “Sober” here means more than merely abstaining from drugs and alcoholic beverages.  It means to be serious-minded about the things of God.

3.     How serious are you about the things of God?  If you had to draw up a list of things that preoccupy your time and money and thoughts, where would God fit in?

4.     “And watch unto prayer” (4:7).  Our Lord said in Mark 13:33, “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.”

5.     Too many Christians think our Lord said, “Watch and play…” but He said, “Watch and pray.”

6.     We call ourselves Bible-believing Christians but if we are not praying, then we certainly are not Bible-obeying Christians.

7.     I believe prayerlessness is a sure sign that the Lord is coming back very soon (Luke 18:8).

8.     “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer” (I Peter 4:7).

9.     As Peter wrote these words, I am sure he remembered his own past failure in the Garden of Gethsemane.   Our Lord told Peter to watch and pray but Peter, James and John all fell asleep (Matthew 26).

II.               BECAUSE THE END OF ALL THINGS IS AT HAND, WE MUST SEEK THE WILL OF GOD (4:1, 2).

1.     “Forasmuch” (4:1) refers back to chapter 3, particularly verse 18.  The Lord suffered greatly “for us” (4:1).

2.     And since Christ suffered greatly for us in the flesh, we must arm ourselves likewise “with the same mind” (4:1).

3.     This is strong medicine for weak Christians but suffering in the flesh keeps us from sin (4:1).  We must deny self and endure hardships for Christ. 

4.     This is what the apostle Paul means in Romans 6 when he says we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin but alive unto God (cf. Rom. 6:11-13).

5.     There is victory over sin, and this is the will of God (I Peter 4:2; cf. Rom. 12:1, 2).

6.     There is an interesting contrast here in our text – “the will of God” (4:2) and “the will of the Gentiles” (4:3). 

7.     By “the will of the Gentiles” Peter is referring to the way the ungodly live.  For the Christian this is referred to as “the time past” – NOT “PRESENT” (4:3).

8.     Peter is addressing Jewish Christians as well as Gentile Christians who had wrought the will of the Gentiles before they were saved (4:3).  They associated with the ungodly in “lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings (wild parties), and abominable (unlawful & improper even by the world’s standards) idolatries” (4:3).

9.     Peter is very specific in identifying sin (4:3).  Too many preachers beat around the bush when it comes to naming sin. Someone once asked Homer Rodeheaver, Billy Sunday’s songleader, why was Billy Sunday such a great evangelist.  Homer Rodeheaver said, “He preached on sin, and he always was specific when he spoke about sin.  He spelled it out.”

10.Let me spell it out if I may.  “Lasciviousness” indicates indecency, immorality, and a complete lack of restraint.  Doesn’t that describe the day we live in?   This same Greek word is translated “filthy” in II Peter 2:7. 

11.I was listening to the radio yesterday and they were talking about a big party in New Orleans.  The woman said there were huge piles of filth and debris everywhere but the people were dancing and drinking.  They didn’t even have electricity.  They were using generators.

12.There you have it: no electricity, no clean drinking water, no working sewers, trash everywhere – but plenty of alcohol!

13.Peter says now that these people were saved, their former companions could not understand why they were no longer interested in going to their worldly parties, and why they no longer were interested in living for the world, the flesh, and the devil (4:4).

14.A few months ago I heard from some old friends.  They were going out on a boat to celebrate a friend’s 50^th birthday.  There was going to be good food as well as worldly music and drinking and all sorts of wickedness.  They thought I was “strange” (4:4) to pass up on such a “fun time.”

15.Worldly friends and relatives may think we’re strange but we should only be concerned with what God thinks.  We should be intent on doing the will of God (4:2b).

16.The Bible is clear: those of us who do not participate in worldly activities, parties, nightclubs, dancing, and so on can expect opposition from the devil’s crowd.  They will “speak evil” of us (4:4b). 

17.F. B. Meyer said, “Men of the world think it strange that we do not run with them to the same excess of riot.  They know what we renounce, but not what we receive.  They see us flinging away the rank water from the stinking bottle-skins, but they do not see us drinking down long draughts of everlasting life.  They cannot understand that what we have in Christ makes all things else taste insipid and forbidding.  If they only knew, they would see that THEY are acting strangely, and not we.”

III. BECAUSE THE END OF ALL THINGS IS AT HAND, WE MUST BE READY TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT TO GOD (4:5).

1.     “Who” here in I Peter 4:5 does not refer to the Christian, though we Christians will have to give an account at the judgment seat of Christ.

2.     In the context of this passage, “who” (4:5) refers to lost sinners, those who speak evil of Christians (4:4), those who think it strange that we do not want to drink with them (4:4), those who enjoy their filthy parties and revellings (4:3).

3.     These lascivious sinners will have to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, who is “ready to judge the quick and the dead” (I Peter 4:5).

4.     It is obvious that right now they are thinking about the judgment of God.  They are living only for the pleasures of this world and give little consideration to the next world.

5.     The apostle Paul wrote to young Timothy, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead” (II Tim. 4:1).

6.     John 5:22 says, “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.”

7.     Acts 17:30 and 31 say that God has “commandeth all men every where to repent.  Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” 

8.     Romans 2:16 says, “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”

9.     This great judgment is described for us in Revelation 20:11-15.

CONCLUSION:

1.     The Bible teaches us that those who do not receive Christ as their Saviour, must one day face Him as their Judge.

2.     Unsaved friend, I strongly advise you to receive Christ now as your Saviour (Rev. 20:12, 15).