2 Peter 3:10-13 NKJV But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (11) Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, (12) looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? (13) Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
- There will be a day, church, where the heavens and earth pass away, where everything is melted down and recreated, a new heaven and a new earth.
- On that new earth will be a beautiful city, dressed up like a bride on her wedding day… sparkling in gold, and pearls, and jewels…
- In that city, the New Jerusalem, there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more sin, no more suffering.
- Instead of all of that there will be joy, and peace, and contentment…
- There will be life, abundant life, eternal life…
- And best of all, Jesus will be there!
- Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, Sing His mercy and His grace.
- In the mansions bright and blessed, He’ll prepare for us a place.
- When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus we’ll sing and shout the victory!
- The verses that I just read from 2 Peter describe the day of the Lord, when Jesus comes back and calls us all home.
- A new heaven and a new earth is created, and we get to leave in eternity with Christ.
- It is something I hope we all long for.
- In fact, last week I asked the church “Do you want Jesus to come back” and we all agreed that we did!
- Maranatha, Lord, Maranatha! Lord come quickly!
- Because I love Jesus, and because I hate sin and pain and sorrow… I am VERY EXCITED for Christ to come back! To bring us to heaven, to call us home!
- And because of that, verses like the ones we read this morning always excite me, and I hope they excite you to!
- We, as 2 Peter says, we look forward to the day of the coming of God, and we look forward to the new heavens and the new earth!
- Now the Bible is full of verses like this, in the New and Old Testament, it is clear that one day our Messiah, Jesus, will return to the earth.
- It is clear that at some point He will call His bride, His church home… that is you and me if you are born again.
- Jesus will in the twinkling of an eye, take us all to heaven. And we will be with Him for eternity!
- It’s called the rapture… the instant where all who are born again, all who are without the guilt of sin, including children too young to consciously chose Jesus… when we all get transported to heaven.
- When we all get to heaven, what a day of Rejoicing that will be!
- But church, there is a problem… did you notice from the verses this morning all the fire and destruction?
2 Peter 3:10 NKJV But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
- One day, you and I will get to heaven, either through death or through rapture… but the day will come when the end happens.
- And all the Christians will be with Jesus… But there is a problem… there will still be a LOT of people left on the earth… and those people are going to be there when the great noise happens… a huge and mighty boom… and then a heat so hot that it melts the elements…
- Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminum, Iron… and all the other elements of the earth… completely melted and destroyed turning into pure plasma, the elements stripped of their atoms, the protons and neutrons in the atom torn apart from one another.
- The kind of heat this would take to melt all the elements of the earth would be about 540 million degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 20 times hotter than the center of the sun.
- It is a terrifying thing to think about what would happen if you were alive at this moment, and the moment of the loud noise, the flash, the fire, the heat… as God recreates the heavens and the earth to make them perfect.
- It is safe to say, that even if you were alive, you wouldn’t be alive at all.
- I really do think it is terrifying… Not just because of the heat and the firey death… but because of what comes next, the judgment of God.
- Any of you ever get the sinking feeling that you missed the rapture?
- Like no one is answering the phone, you can’t find your wife… everything looks strangely deserted…
- IT’S SUCH A SCARY FEELING!
- Because if I missed the rapture, that means I am not right with God, and if I am not right with God then Judgment day is not going to go well for me.
- And if the rapture has come, then the judgment is coming…
- But of course, as I have matured in Christ, I don’t have those fears any more, I know who I am in Christ, I know what the Gospel has done for me… I am secure in my salvation…
- But what about everyone else? What about the people who do have to face the judgment seat of God… who do have to face the fire of His wrath… what about the people who have not been saved and die, or are here when the rapture comes and they are left behind… what about them?
- It is those people I want to talk about this morning… this mission Sunday.
- Today is mission Sunday, I normally preach a little bit of a shorter sermon on Mission Sunday, so this morning I don’t have any points… just the sermon title “The problem with the Gospel”.
- And of course on mission Sunday we sing in other languages, we pray for the nations, we wear international clothing, and we recommit our missions faith pledges.
- And this mission Sunday I want to address, really, the only problem I see with the Gospel.
- The Word Gospel simply means “Good News”… and for there to be good news there must be bad news.
- The bad news is that we have all sinned. We have all broken God’s law… things we know are wrong, we do them, we seek them, we enjoy these wrong things.
- We do our best to numb our conscience and to walk in the enjoyment of the sins of life… be it gossip or greed, lust or larceny, Blasphemy or bribery, deceit or debauchery…
- We have ALL fallen short of the glory of God, we have ALL broken God’s law.
- And that is a problem, because God is an infinitely Just God… and when you break the laws of an infinitely just God, then your punishment is infinite!
- If we are judged by God according to His law, we will ALL be found guilty. And the punishment for our crime? An eternity in a lake of fire… the burning heat of 20 suns is just the beginning.
- That is the bad news, we deserve hell… but the good news is that God loves us so much that He took our punishment for us… He sent His Son to die for us, to forgive our sins, to take the punishment we deserve… The Bible says He took on the sins of the world before He was crucified… meaning that your sin and my sin was on that cross some 2000 years ago, and that our sins are dead, they are forgiven, they are gone.
- Jesus rose on the third day, but my sins remained in the grave, Amen‽
- That’s the Gospel… we are sinners, Christ died for sinners. We deserve hell, but the free gift of Christ Jesus is eternal salvation.
- We all know this here, we preach the Gospel every Sunday…
- BUT THERE IS ONE MAJOR PROBLEM WITH THE GOSPEL.
- The problem is not with God.
- The problem is not with Jesus death on the cross, it was an ALL sufficient sacrifice.
- The problem is not with the Bible, it is perfect and complete.
- The problem is not our sin, no sin is too big for Christs death and resurrection to overcome.
- No, the problem lies elsewhere…
Romans 10:9-11 NKJV that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (11) For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.”
- Let me say that last line again, and then see if you catch the problem:
- Whoever believes on him will not be put to shame.
- The problem with the Gospel is that you MUST believe in it, you must put your trust in it.
- Well why is that a problem pastor? God is not some celestial dictator, if you don’t want to put your trust in Jesus, that is up to you… why is it a problem that you must believe?
- Well the following verses address that question, they show that Paul, as he was writing to the Romans, understood this problem very clearly.
Romans 10:13-15 NKJV For “WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.” (14) How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? (15) And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF PEACE, WHO BRING GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS!”
- To be saved you must call on the name of Jesus.
- To call on the name of Jesus you must believe in the name of Jesus… but that is a problem…
- Because in order to believe in the Gospel you must first HEAR the Gospel.
- And that is a problem
- Because in order to hear the Gospel, someone must PREACH the Gospel.
- And that is a problem.
- Because in order for there to be someone to preach the Gospel, that preach must be sent to preach the Gospel.
- The problem with the Gospel does not lie with God and His ability to save.
- It lies with us and our willingness to go and preach.
- It lies with us and our willingness to send the preacher.
- This is why I have an Old Bible in an abandoned church… to illustrate this point.
- The Bible is the perfect Word of God.
- In fact, Psalm 19: 7 says that the Law of the Lord is PERFECT in converting the Soul.
- Yet in this picture, what good is this Bible doing?
- No one is being converted in this church.
- No lives are being changed.
- A Bible is only useful if there are people there to read it, to learn from it.
- As such, the Gospel is only useful if there are people sent to preach it… and if there are people there to hear it.
- This is such a GLARING problem, that I have had many an atheist challenge me with it… the challenge goes like this:
- If an Eskimo who has never heard of the name of Jesus dies, will they go to hell?
- If a tribe of aboriginals who have never heard the gospel dies… will they all go to hell?
- If Jesus is the only way to heaven, by the power of the Gospel… and the Gospel must be believed… then what happens to all the people who die without hearing about the Gospel?
- Now these atheist and agnostics think this is some kind of “Gotchya” question.
- Like I am going to hear this question and be like “Welp, I never thought of that… I guess I will throw it all away, abandon God, and go back to my deplorable life of sin!”
- But it is not really a gotchya question.
- Listen church “You don’t got to hell because of what you DON’T have… No one is in hell because they “Don’t have Jesus”.
- No, you go to hell because of what you DO HAVE… everyone who is in hell is there because they DO HAVE the guilt of sin on them.
- They broke the law, the guilt is on them.
- In fact, if the Eskimos and the aboriginal tribe got to go to heaven simply because they were ignorant of the Gospel, well then the most merciful thing we could do would be to NOT preach the Gospel to them.
- If you can get to heaven simply by never hearing the gospel, then shame on us for telling people the Gospel.
- But of course that is not the case. Only the innocent go to heaven, and the only way for us to be innocent is through the blood of Christ.
- And herein lies the problem… because there are people who have never heard the Gospel.
- The problem with the Gospel is that there are people who have never heard it, and we are so comfortable and lazy that we don’t want to go and preach that gospel.
- We are so greedy and selfish that we don’t want to give our money to send preachers to preach the Gospel.
- The problem with the Gospel is US! And all the other churches who know the Gospel but we don’t do everything we can to SPREAD the Gospel.
- If someone asks you “What about the Eskimo who has never heard of Jesus?”
- You response should be “YOU ARE RIGHT! Let’s buy a plan ticket to northern Alaska, let’s find that Eskimo, and let us present to him, with the Help of the Holy Spirit, let us present to him the Gospel.
- When someone says “What about the aboriginal tribe”.
- Let your response be “You know what, you are right! Let’s start building a plan, let us start pooling our resources… let us send preachers to the aboriginal peoples that they might hear and believe in the Gospel.
- The most recent numbers that I could find say anywhere between 30% and 40% of the population of the world have never heard the Gospel and have little to no means to hear the Gospel.
- The majority of these people are in Africa and in Asia.
- Many are in first world countries.
- WHY IS IT that in 2025, with all our cell phones, and internet, and airlines, and amenities… that 30% to 40% of the world have no access to the Gospel?
- THAT IS A PROBLEM.
- The stinky truth of it all is that there are not enough missionaries going to preach the Gospel, and there are not enough churches SENDING missionaries to preach the Gospel.
- How will they believe in what they have not heard? How will they hear unless it is preached? How will the preacher preach, if they are not sent?
- THIS IS THE PROBLEM THAT WE HOPE TO HELP SOLVE AT CLC… And if all the Bible Believing churches in the world would take up this mantle… if we would all send and go, I think we could hasten the day of the Lord… that we could see Christ return in our lifetime…
- So let’s talk about what we are doing to fix the problem.
- According to the Joshua Project 97.9% of the population of Japan have no access to the Gospel… 97.9% of the people of Japan have never heard the Gospel.
- Now, we at Christian Life Church are not ok with people in Japan dying without hearing the Gospel.
- So we sent a team to Japan to start a church.
- We as a church sent preachers. We sent our very own Rebeccah Farrier, and now we have sent Cainen Knox.
- We have SENT people to preach, so the Japan may hear, and some may believe and confess!
- And in that first year, thousands have been talked to and prayed with and connected with.
- And about 300 Japanese people have heard the Gospel for the first time, the full Gospel… not just a tract, but the fullness of the Gospel preached!
- And maybe you think “Well 300 hundred doesn’t seem like that much”, just understand this… if every church in America, JUST AMERICA, preached the Gospel to 300 Japanese people a year, the whole of Japan would have personally heard the gospel in just over 19 months!
- In just over a year and a half, all of Japan would be reached.
- Now let’s break that down even further.
- If every evangelical, Bible believing church in JUST THE UNITED STATES preached the Gospel to 300 unreached people a year then the whole world would hear the Gospel in less than 45 years.
- THIS CHURCH IS WHY WE SEND MISSIONARIES… WE ARE DOING OUR PART!
- It is why we support Equipping the Persecuted… because 30 percent of Nigeria has never heard the Gospel… and there are many churches preaching the Gospel there, but terrorists are killing the pastors and their families… More Christians are Martyred in Nigeria every year than anywhere else in the world. So we equip the pastors to defend themselves and to keep preaching the Gospel.
- This is why we support Kingdom Life and Prayer Ministries International in Sierra Leone… because 17.9% of Sierra Leonians have never heard the Gospel.
- This is why we support fire around the world, because the preach the Gospel in nations like India, where 95 percent of the population is unreached by the Gospel.
- The problem with the gospel is not a problem at all, if we simply as Christians do what we were called to do.
Conclusion
- The problem with the Gospel is not really the problem with the Gospel, it is the problem with us… God’s plan is perfect, and so are His marching orders… we are the imperfect ones…
- God tells us exactly what we are supposed to do, Jesus made it clear as day before he ascended into heaven.
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
- The problem with the Gospel is that Jesus tells us “Go and make disciples of all nations” and we say “Nah… I am more concerned with my own faith, my own life, my own success… I am to focused on me to be bothered to preach the Gospel in other nations… I am so focused on myself that I don’t even want to spend time, energy, or money SENDING others to obey the great commission.
- There are many churches that are focused on helping YOU live YOUR best life… but they ignore others who have never heard the Gospel.
- And don’t get me wrong, I want you to live your best life… but not at the cost of others… not at the cost of the Gospel.
- That is why we do mission Sunday here, it is a sacrifice… most other Sundays the sermons will be for you… to help you improve your life… to help you grow closer to God… to help you be more like Christ…
- But on Mission Sunday the sermon is all about the nations…
- And it is not the most applicable sermon… and I have no idea how visitors feel when they come to our church for the first time on a Missions Sunday.
- But this service is not for the visitor, though you are welcome here and we definitely want you to come back next week.
- And this service is not for the regular attender, or member, or deacon, or pastor…
- This service is for the nations, this service is for the unreached. This service is for the Gospel!
- But at the same time I refuse to neglect my duty to the people of Iowa, and so, before I ask us all to recommit our missions faith pledges, I want to ask if there is anyone here who needs to respond to the Gospel… who needs to confess that Jesus is Lord for the first time… for people to be saved…
Join us this Sunday at either 8:30AM or 10:30AM for worship followed by this message from the Word of God.
Christian Life Church of Cedar Rapids
2808 Schaeffer DR SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
www.CedarRapidsChurch.com
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