Sermon Tone Analysis

So this was an interesting week…did anybody hear the news about Harold Camping? He’s the preacher that’s made all those predictions about the return of Christ.

There’s been five or six different dates he’s proposed beginning in 1994, the most recent being October of last year.

Something I discovered when I was looking at Camping’s stuff is that since the time of Christ, rarely has just five years passed without somebody giving a date for the Rapture.

In fact, the only 10-year period without a proposed date was the first 10 years directly following Christ.

Well, anyway, this past week Harold Camping announced from his radio show that he was wrong and asked God’s forgiveness for making what he called a “sinful mistake.”

Somebody tell me why what Camping did is a sinful mistake?

<…> It would be difficult for a non-believer to view the hundreds of dates of Christ’s return that have come and gone and come away with anything less than ridicule and mockery for the Christian faith.

I mean, there are already enough hard questions people have that Christians have a hard time answering.

And it’s even worse when it’s a non-believer who actually knows something about what the Bible says.

So let’s think about this…a person who knows something about the Bible, but hasn’t put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Maybe they think there’s something to it, maybe they don’t…maybe their on the fence.

Let’s say they start to read the Bible or maybe just ask questions to a Christian they know.

The conversation goes something like this:

Joe: Hey, Larry.

I have a question.

Larry: What’s going on, Joe?

Joe: You’re a Christian, right?

What’s the deal with Jesus coming back all about?

Larry: Oh, well Jesus ascended to heaven after he rose from the dead 2000 years ago, and he’s going to come back to collect his people and bring fiery judgment on the rest of the world.

Joe: Yeah.

I’ve heard that.

I’ve also heard about all these people who’ve given dates for His return which have all come and gone.

Are you sure this is all real?

Larry: Yes.

I believe the Bible is 100% accurate.

Joe: Ok, well let me ask you this…Why is Jesus going to bring fiery judgment on the world?

Larry: Because the world is sinful.

And God is a just God who punishes sin.

Joe: Why does He punish sin?

Larry: Because he’s just.

He is incompatible with sin.

The Bible says that God’s eyes are so holy that he cannot look upon evil.

Joe: Can’t look upon evil?

… You know what’s going on in the Middle East?

I mean, If God is a just God who must punish the sins of mankind, why doesn’t He do it?

Put yourself in Larry’s shoes…how would you answer?

Have you even thought about it yourself?

Hopefully you have, because you can see how easily this issue can come up unexpectedly in conversation.

So now, I put the question to you.

If there is all this evil in the world, why is God silent?

Why does God answer the sins of the world with silence?

If God is so just and so holy…where is the storm?

Where is the mighty hand of judgment?

If God is just and perfect and holy, why are rapists and murderers and warlords running rampant in the world?

If God has His eye on all the affairs of the world, and is in control, and is perfect and holy… why are 42 million babies killed in the womb every year?

Why does God answer the sins of the world with silence?

If God is the one who declares what is good and what is evil, why does He seem to be the least outspoken about it?

When 400,000 people are slaughtered in Rwanda, where is the voice of God?

Why doesn’t He speak up?

When a four-year-old girl is kidnapped and raped, why is God silent?

If God is the one who declared that He will punish the sins of the world as a righteous judge, where is He?

If He is the Judge, has he recused Himself from the case?

All these unfulfilled proposals for the date of Christ’s return build skepticism in everyone’s mind who isn’t already a believer.

But you know the sad thing?

Even if a person is convinced that Christ is coming back…that does not guarantee their behavior will reflect it.

In fact, at one time there was a whole group of churches in Turkey who had an influx of teachers who denied the 2nd Coming of Christ, even though they knew it was true, and they denied it for the purpose of self-indulgence, and they denied it using these arguments.

These false teachers would say things like, “These sorts of things don’t happen!

Be liberated from the fear of consequences and live how you want!”

The false teachers would ask, “When is the last time you remember God bringing fiery judgment on the world?

The prophets and apostles predicted Jesus’ return, but now we know that it’s not real.”

The false teachers would tell you, “There are no consequences.

Live how you like!”

Sadly, we can also be duped into that same way of thinking…and we do it all the time.

That’s why we sin.

We believe the promise of no consequences, even though we know they’ll come.

But we believe it because so often the consequences don’t come.

Christ has not returned to judge the world, and we witness evil all around us and God remains silent.

Why does God answer the sins of the world with silence?

Well, what I said about the churches in Turkey is a true story…it’s in the Bible, and the Apostle Peter wrote a letter to these churches to address the issue, and I want us to take a look at just one small portion of the end of this letter, and what we’re going to see is that Christ’ delay in returning is not truly a delay; rather, what we’ll see is that if we think He’s delayed then our fundamental understanding of the situation is flawed, and then we’ll see why God does remain silent in the midst of all the evil in the world.

This passage is found in 2 Peter 3:8-10.

But this passage begins at verse 1, so I’m just going to read verses 1-7 to you and then we’ll look at verses 8-10.

I’ll be using the NASB.

Chapter 3, verse 1: /This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles./

So, no new teaching going on here.

Just a reminder of what they’ve already been taught regarding the 2nd Coming of Christ.

Verse 3: /Know this first of all, that in the last days…/first of all, what constitutes the Last Days?

The Last Days simply means the period of time prior to the 2nd Coming, the Rapture, more precisely since that occurs prior to the 2nd Coming.

This is the time we’re in now; there is nothing else that needs to happen before He comes back, so we are living in the Last Days.

/… in the last days mockers will come with their mocking following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?/

The irony here is great: the Last Days are characterized by people denying Christ’s Return, but by their own words they are testifying to the reality of His return!

Don’t be disturbed by that denial; be encouraged because you’re witnessing prophecy being fulfilled before your eyes…/For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice/…now, that phrase there, as some of your translations reflect, means to intentionally ignore something.

Like I said, these false teachers deny what they know to be true… /that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.

But by His word…/by this same Word of God… /the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men./

What Peter’s saying is that their denial of consequences is a denial that God intervenes in the affairs of this world.

They’re saying, “God remains silent amidst our sin, so His judgment must not be true.

We are by ourselves here.”

But they’re denying what they know to be true to get what they want.

They base their denial of consequences on the fact that they have yet to experience them.

That’s the mindset that says, “Well, I didn’t get a ticket the last time I drove 30 over,” or “Well, my neighbors didn’t call the police the last time I screamed at the kids,” or “Well, I didn’t get caught the last time I watched porn online… so it won’t happen this time.”

That’s dangerous thinking that is seriously detrimental to our relationship with God, and it destroys our witness.

So now, let’s turn to our passage, verses 8-10, and as I said before, if we think that Christ is delayed in His return, it’s because our fundamental understanding of the situation is flawed.

There’s something incorrect about God that we are believing…Or, as is the case for these Christians in Turkey, there is something correct about that we are choosing to ignore.

Verse 8: /But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved/, …again, that’s that same phrase that means to willfully ignore…/that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day./

Christ is not delayed because God cannot be measured by time.

If God’s creation includes the sun and the rotation of the earth and the earth’s orbit around the sun, by which time is measured…how then can God’s actions be measured by our timeline?

Does He not exist outside of time?

Is God limited by His own creation?

When were learning math, we learned how to draw a timeline.

There’s an arrow off to the left representing infinity into negative numbers, and an arrow off to the right representing infinity into positive numbers.