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I. THE WORLD SILENTLY CONDEMNED BY THE CHURCH. This is often done not so much positively as negatively. It is very peculiar, for they condemn them without saying a word, simply by "not running into the same excess of riot"; and this, it seems, is exceedingly well understood by the worldly party. Noah condemned the world by what he did, as well as by what he said; every stroke of his hammer was a sermon. The marked avoidance of the prevailing sins and follies of the world is often felt to be a powerful condemnation of them. But why should Christians thus refuse to mingle themselves up with the evil of the world?

1. Love to Christ requires it. "Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves, therefore, with the same mind."

2. The painful remembrance of the past prompts it. "The time past may suffice to have wrought the will of the Gentiles." It is always a sad thought to the Christian to look back upon his past devotedness to the sins of the world.

3. Christian consistency requires it. "Let every one depart from iniquity." A wicked life in a Christian is an indignity committed upon his Master in the disguise of a friend, and an outrage against the gospel. It seems to declare either that this religion tolerates immorality, or that it has not sufficient authority to enforce its own laws.

4. Your own highest interests demand it.

II. THE CHURCH CENSURED BY THE WORLD.

1. In their thoughts. "They think it strange that ye run not into this excess of riot"; but pardon me if I say they would think it stranger if you did. They may dislike you now, but they would certainly despise you then. "They think it strange." Why? Because they know nothing of the high standard of excellence which Christians possess; nor of the elevated principles by which they are actuated; nor of the superior sources of pleasure which are open to them. The Christian and the worldly man have both reason to wonder at each other. The worldling wonders that the Christian loves Christ so much: the Christian wonders that the worldling loves Him so little.

2. In their speeches. They speak evil of you, and contemptuously, as precise, formal, unsocial, repulsive. The Jews spoke evil of the prophets; Ahab spoke evil of Micaiah: "I hate him, for he always prophesies evil of me." The disciples were "a sect everywhere spoken against."

3. In their writings. Pliny wrote to the Roman emperor to complain of the Christian converts, as addicted to a morose and severe superstition. Infidel and irreligious men have indited many a sarcasm against the Christian cause.

4. By their conduct. That is, towards Christians, whom they persecute in various ways.

III. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD CONCERNING BOTH. "Who shall judge both quick and dead."

1. The certainty of the judgment. "They shall give an account."

2. The speediness of the judgment. "He is ready to judge."

3. The universality of the judgment. "The quick and dead."

4. The consequences of the judgment. The awards of eternity are final, and they are extreme.

(The Evangelist.)

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KJV: For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

WEB: For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.