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Sermon Title: The Boundless Gospel
Sermon Text: Revelation 14:6–7
Sermon Summary: The gospel of Jesus Christ knows no bounds of time or place. It is an eternal message covering all sin for every people through Christ’s complete sacrifice, recovered in the Reformation and carried in mission.
Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Jackson
Liturgical Date: Reformation Day (Observed)
Calendar Date: 2026-10-25
Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County, 316 W. Main St., Forestville, WI 54213. 920-856-6420.
Saint Peter’s serves Casco and other locations in Northeast Wisconsin.
The following transcript has been cleaned and lightly edited with the assistance of AI:
TRANSCRIPT
Today’s sermon is about the boundless gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel which knows no bounds of time and knows no bounds of place. El sermón de hoy trata sobre el hecho de que el evangelio de Jesucristo es para todos los tiempos y para todas las personas. Today we heard in our first lesson these words, “Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on Earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.”
And with these words, we see two truths. First of all, the gospel of Jesus Christ knows no bounds of time. It’s an eternal gospel. Second of all, that the gospel of Jesus Christ knows no bounds of place. That it is for all the peoples of the world. And this is certainly the truth. We see this in the holy scriptures themselves, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is on the very beginning pages of the Holy Bible.
The Gospel in Genesis
We go all the way back to Genesis, after the fall into sin, God certainly did lay punishments upon Adam and Eve, but He not only gave punishments, but also promise. And He said to them that one of the sons of Eve who would eventually come forth would crush the head of the serpent, even while the serpent would bruise his heel.
This is a lot of times known as the first gospel. This is the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, the wounded Savior, the wounded Redeemer. And that message of the wounded Redeemer is a message that we see repeated again and again and again in the Old Testament. It becomes more and more clear, the nature of this coming wounded Redeemer.
We have, for example, the sacrifices in the temple. A visual prophecy, shall we say, or reminder of the wounded Redeemer who would come. That even as these animals were sacrificed for the sake of the people, so also would come someone far greater, who would be sacrificed for all. It becomes even more clear in the later prophets, sometimes just astonishingly clear, for example, in Isaiah, in the song of the suffering servant, that talks about the one who would be lifted up, wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, the sin of all laid upon His shoulders.
Christ the Perfect Sacrifice
Finally the man himself comes, the eternal Son of God in the flesh. And Jesus of Nazareth who lived a perfect life for our sakes and who died an atoning death for our sakes so that He might be the perfect sacrifice. And indeed, He was wounded for our sakes, crucified on the cross, His blood poured out for you and for me, unto the forgiveness of our sins. But not just for you and me, but for all people.
So worthy is that sacrifice for our sakes that it covers over the sin of the whole world. Yes, this is a gift and a message which must be received by means of faith, and yet it is a gift which has been earned by all, but earned for all by Christ. For as it says in John chapter 3, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
And the work of Christ is not only unlimited when it comes to who it is for, but also for the sins of those that it was shed for. We’ll get to that in a second. The work of Christ, it is for all. And this work of Christ will continue to be lauded into eternity. We read from Revelation today, and there’s a beautiful hymn in Revelation in which the people of God laud the lamb, the victorious lamb, who is worthy to be praised on account of his sacrifice for the people. Even in heaven, into eternity, the message of the gospel will continue to be proclaimed and lauded.
It is an eternal gospel.
Opponents of the Gospel
Now sadly, my brothers and sisters in Christ, even while it is an eternal gospel, in our time, there are many opponents against the gospel, and there have been throughout the ages. In fact, about 500 years ago, it seemed as if the opponents of the gospel had the upper hand. The dominant teaching in the church of that time, about 500 years ago, was that the work of Christ was severely limited.
So what Christ accomplished on the cross and what we receive therefore by means of holy baptism is merely the forgiveness of original sin. So the sin that we inherited from Adam and Eve and from our forebearers who have gone before us, that’s what Christ accomplished for us. But then there’s also our actual sin.
So the ways that we have failed to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and strength and mind, the ways that we have failed to love our neighbor as ourselves, all the various things that we ought to have done that we haven’t, and all the various things that we ought not to have done that we have. Those, the predominant teaching 500 years ago was that those were on us and had to be dealt with by means of various acts of penance.
And there are all kinds of acts of penance that were put forth that might bring forgiveness for those sins. There was the act of penance of visiting a relic, for example. So you might go to a church that had in it a beard hair from John the Baptist or a hand bone from St. Luke or a piece of the Holy Cross. And the idea was if you visited a relic such as the sum of that holiness of that saint with whom it was associated, well, that would rub off on you, bringing forgiveness of sins.
There were other acts of penance that were prescribed. For example, you might go on a pilgrimage and walk hundreds of miles potentially to some holy site, and this too might bring you forgiveness of sins. And it even got to the point where it was said that you could give the church a little bit of money, and the church would write you a little note that said that this act dealt with some of the actual sin that you had committed. And it was that act which caught the ire of a man by the name of Martin Luther, a monk, an Augustinian monk who was commissioned to be a teacher at the university in Wittenberg, Germany.
Luther and the 95 Theses
And as he started to think about indulgences, he came up with 95 reasons why we might question the sale of indulgences. They’re commonly known as the 95 Theses Against the Sale of Indulgences, and he took this document, and he pinned it to the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg there.
Why did he do that? Well, that’s how you proposed a debate in those days. So his idea, “I’m gonna propose this debate with these 95 theses. Maybe some other monk will take me up on this. A few of our monk friends will show up. Maybe there will be a dozen people there at best, and then, you know, we’ll see what happens.”
Well, that’s not what happened. You see, there was this new technology afoot, the printing press, and people needed content to run through their printing presses. So what happened? Somebody grabbed those 95 theses off the church door and duplicated them on his printing press and distributed them. Well, guess what?
There weren’t copyright laws in those times, so somebody else got a hold of those and reproduced them, and this was the equivalent of a viral video in those days. Just spread and spread and spread until finally a copy landed on the desk of the pope all the way down in Rome, and this was a problem because the pope was building a new church in Rome, St. Peter’s Basilica, by the way. And indulgences were a major funding source for this, and the pope had a problem with what Luther was saying. Luther was prone to slightly crass and bombastic sayings, and he said, “I farted in Wittenberg, and they heard it in Rome.” Now he didn’t think this was gonna be a big deal.
It turned out to be a much bigger deal. And so he was confronted about this doctrine, but instead of backing down he dug in deeper and he discovered that the entire system this was based on was contrary to the scripture. And he discovered the scriptural truth that as it says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8, we are saved by grace through faith.
Do you know what grace means? Grace means gift, not something earned. And it’s a gift, you see, because it has been earned fully by Christ. Really when you boil it down, the Reformation was about the commitment to the fact of who we say Christ is. If Christ truly is the Son of God, then His work on the cross is full and complete.
It knows no boundaries, but rather it covers all the sin of all people, and there’s no room for our works. And all this, this revelation, this understanding of the gospel transformed Luther’s own life. Before he understood the gospel, he did not much like God. He believed in God, but he didn’t really trust in God. How much was God a terror to him?
Luther’s Fear Turned to Faith
There’s an account of the first time after he had been ordained a priest, the first time that he presided over the Lord’s supper. And as he presided over the Lord’s supper, his hands were trembling so much. Why? Well, he knew God was there, right? That much he knew. God was there because Jesus had promised to be there in his blood, and his hands were trembling so much that that wine, then the blood of Christ, dribbled out onto the altar.
He was mortified.
But his understanding that God rather than being stern judge, but rather loving father, and was reconciled to him through the blood of Christ Jesus, transformed the way he understood God and His word. And now instead of fear, there was faith. Instead of even resentment, there was love. It transformed his heart. And that’s why he remains stalwart in this confession.
Because even though he was opposed for it, his own physical safety was at stake, his own life, he knew the life-giving nature of the gospel, and wanted others to know that as well.
Why We Are Committed to Mission
This, brothers and sisters in Christ, is why we are committed to the work of mission. In the Lutheran Church of Missouri Synod as a whole, and as a congregation as well. This is why we send out missionaries around the world, including Ashley, who’s going to be talking to us in a few minutes. This is why we send missionaries around the world, so that they can give this life-giving, comforting gospel to all who need to hear it.
You see, we are confident in the fact that even while the gospel of Jesus Christ has no limit of time or no limit of efficacy, it also has no limit of place. It is a gospel for all people. We’ll have the opportunity at the end of service to support Ashley in the collection of Adora offering. And that’s nice, and I encourage you to do so.
But maybe if the Lord moves you, you might support her individually as well in greater ways. It’s not the only way in the church in which we support the work of the gospel around the world. We also have this lovely organization, Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. If you see a lady in purple today, she’s actively involved in it.
The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League
And the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League has a dual mission. First of all, to support the work of missionaries around the world as they take the gospel of Jesus Christ to all those who need to hear it, and also to support women in their testimony to the gospel, within their homes, among their friends, among their coworkers, in their communities.
It’s a wonderful organization with a great mission, and it’s a fun organization. Just yesterday, a contingent of our ladies went to the Zone Rally. What’s the Zone Rally? The Zone Rally is where the chapters for all the other LWML chapters get together, all together, and you make friends from all the other Lutheran Ladies and all the other churches.
And it’s so fun to see your friends and to compare notes with the other ladies. You always have to make sure your church is in good shape because those church ladies go poking around everywhere when they show up to your church. It’s a lot of fun that way. And you get a wonderful opportunity to learn about the things that the Lord is doing.
Yesterday was the Zone Rally, and I believe they had the comfort dogs there, right? That you got to meet in order to give comfort to those maybe in traumatic experiences, and so on. And my encouragement for you, if you’re a woman within the congregation, is to get more involved in the LWML.
But you don’t need to be a woman in order to support the work of this organization. You’ll see out on their display out in the narthex little boxes. These are called the mite box. And just like the widow in the Gospels gave her two mites and the Lord considered this a great offering, so also you can take a mite box.
So no matter who you are, my own son had a mite box and would put his spare change in that and bring that back to the ladies. You can do that as well. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what a wonderful heritage we have in the Lutheran Church, that we are the ones through whom the Lord restored this doctrine of justification to its rightful place, that we continue to proclaim it in its truth and purity.
My prayer is that as a congregation, as a synod, and as individuals, we would be dedicated to spreading this message to all who will hear. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.