Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Tragedy of Unbelief*

*Acts 28:16-31      February 11, 2001*

* *

*Scripture Reading:* Romans 10

 

*Introduction:*

 

          Imagine the greatest tragedy you have ever heard of or experienced.

Perhaps it was the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Perhaps it was the horrible earthquake in India.

Perhaps it is the AIDS epidemic.

Perhaps your memory goes back even further to WWII or the Korean War or the Vietnam War.

Perhaps your mind focuses more on your personal life and the near-death experience you had where God gave you a few additional years of life that you presently enjoy.

Perhaps it was your divorce, that even if it wasn't ugly, it was devastating to you emotionally and even spiritually.

Perhaps it was the death of your child or your spouse or a tragic accident that left someone you know maimed and disabled.

Perhaps it was the death of Jesus and all that has meant for God's own people, the Jews, because of their unbelief.

Perhaps it is the unbelief of someone you know and have talked to.

Perhaps it is your own unbelief.

Dr.

Luke, the committed friend and companion of Paul, has written us this amazingly insightful and detailed history in Acts of the early church age, under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to let people of all ages envision and accept by faith the reality of the Son of God that changed the world.

Jesus Christ is the power and the reason behind all the miracles and other acts of faith that we find in the book of Acts.

None of it could have happened without the reality that he is.

As we close our series in the book of Acts this morning in chapter 28:16-31, we find a challenge presented.

It is a challenge to believe in the One who inspired it.

We have, under Luke's pen, covered much ground and now we are challenged to take our own ownership of what we have learned.

Perhaps you already believe but now you are emboldened to live and proclaim it more fully after you have witnessed these tremendous examples of faith and the furtherance of Christ's kingdom.

Indeed, the book of Acts ends quite abruptly as if to say, "Now go and do likewise.

The rest is up to you as you apply your faith in me."

Indeed, Paul did just that, as if it were up to him.

But God allowed him to be martyred as a final act of overwhelming faith to all ages.

And God is not yet done with the world.

So we must continue on the trail that Paul blazed under the sovereignty of God.

But perhaps you have never really come to that kind of faith that is willing to take a stand.

In your heart you know that you have not yet believed.

You have been going to church for a while, perhaps even for a long time.

You have heard the message, but you have kept faith in your own way rather than in God's way through Christ.

I submit to you that is the greatest tragedy of all time.

So ---

 

*Big Question:*

 

/          What are some reasons why unbelief in Jesus is such a tragedy?/

 

*I.

Cycle One*

 

*          A.

Narrative* (vv.

17-20)

 

*          B.

Implication*

 

Unbelief in Jesus is a tragedy because faith in him is offered without condemnation in order to fulfill our hopes.

/(It is freely given.)/

*          C.

Illustration*

 

*          D.

Application*

 

          It may have cost us but it is offered freely to others.

And we are pleased to bear the cost.

John 3:17

 

*II.

Cycle Two*

 

*          A.

Narrative* (vv.

21-24)

 

*          B.

Implication*

 

          Unbelief in Jesus is a tragedy because faith in him is rejected primarily not out of preconceived prejudice but because of a preference for righteousness by works.

/(It is eminently superior.)/

*          C.

Illustration*

 

*          D.

Application*

 

*III.

Cycle Three*

 

*          A.

Narrative* (vv.

25-27)

 

*          B.

Implication*

 

          Unbelief in Jesus is a tragedy because rejection of faith in him leads to further separation from God and the real hope he offers through that faith/.

(It is real acceptance.)/

*          C.

Illustration*

 

*          D.

Application*

 

          They have allowed themselves to become deaf and blind for fear that they might hear and see the disturbing Word of God and so receive healing from God.

          God's Word brings he diagnosis of sin, which is painful to hear and accept, but at the same time it wounds in order to heal.

Once a person deliberately refuses the Word, there comes a point when he is deprived of the capacity to receive it.

It is a stern warning to those who trifle with the gospel.

*IV.

Cycle Four*

* *

*          A.

Narrative* (v.

28)

 

*          B.

Implication*

 

          Unbelief in Jesus is a tragedy because rejection of faith in him will result in its offer to others who will believe.

/(It is preferential treatment.)/

*          C.

Illustration*

 

*          D.

Application*

 

*V.

Cycle Five*

* *

*          A.

Narrative* (vv.

30-31)

 

*          B.

Implication*

 

          Unbelief in Jesus is a tragedy because God continues to offer his kingdom to all who will come into it by faith.

/(It is continuing grace.)/