Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning I want to share what I am most passionate about in life.

God has revolutionized my life the past couple years and I will never be the same again.

Some of what I share may be difficult to accept.

I know it was for me.

It took several years for God to penetrate my hardened heart.

My prayer is that you would search God’s Word and pray before you immediately dismiss it.

I also am not saying I have all the answers or that I have arrived.

I am simply a sinner saved by grace who hopes to spend the rest of his life telling others about Christ.

So this is basically my life’s story.

These are things that God has convicted me about in my own life.

I would like to begin with my testimony - some which is in the letter I put in your box.

I first put my trust in Christ at a Good News Club that my mom held in our home.

It was a club after school where she shared Bible stories with neighborhood kids.

I put my trust in Christ at the age of 7 after one of those meetings.

I pretty much led a good life and tried to serve Christ to the best of my abilities.

However, I never had confidence in my decision to trust Christ because I fell short so often and never had a passion for the Bible or to share my faith.

I continued serving in churches, doing Bible studies, and all the good things a Christian is supposed to do.

But at times I felt listless and sometimes distant from God.

I held some bitterness towards God because of the health issues I had to go through.

But it is not about my health.

I also struggled with some of the things that have happened in the church over the past several years.

But again, it is not about this church.

A few years ago I reached I crisis of faith.

I still believed in God and knew Christ died for me, but I simply lacked a passion for the things of God.

I did not read my Bible, my prayer life was dormant, and I did not know what to do other than to ask God to reveal Himself to me.

I struggled being involved in youth group, because I saw so many kids claim to come to Christ, only to walk away in high school or college.

I felt like I was not making any difference and to be honest, I did not know what difference God made in my life.

My trying to be good was just that, me trying to be good.

After all, I really had never done anything really bad in my life.

Then about 3 years ago, an acquaintance mentioned a book that he had read by Mark Cahill called “The One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven”.

It is referring to the fact that we can not witness in heaven or bring anyone with us.

After reading it, the Holy Spirit convicted me about my lack of sharing the Gospel.

Then, I heard a message by Ray Comfort on Hell's Best Kept Secret and I realized that I was not the good person I felt I was.

I deserved hell because of my sinful nature.

I violated every one of God's Law, the 10 Commandments, at least in my heart or thoughts.

If I was judged by God by his Law, I would be found guilty, and would deserve hell.

God is loving, but He is also just and Holy.

He can not allow sin in His presence.

My only hope is Christ - He came to earth to not only die but to endure the wrath of God that I deserve.

It says in Isaiah 53:10 that it “It pleased YAHWEH to crush His Son” Can you understand what that means.

I did the crime, but Christ paid my fine.

Because Christ became sin for us, God the Father could not look at His own Son.

That is why He cried out "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" We watched “The Gospel Journey Maui” this past spring in youth group.

One of the last videos was entitled “Who is Jesus?”.

Greg Stier, the preacher, talked about this fact - how when Christ cried out on the cross - for the first time in eternity, the Son was separated from the Father as He bore our sin upon Himself.

How that happened, I cannot explain, but it is incredible that God would do that for us.

Christ took the punishment I deserve, defeated death, and rose again.

Because of His death, I can live.

2 Corinthians 5:21 states it this way: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Christ took on my sin, and I received Christ's righteousness.

My response to the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit is simply to repent and believe the gospel and keep on repenting and believing.

Mark 1:15 quotes Christ’s first words as “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

It is in the present tense which means to keep on repenting and believing.

Since that time my whole goal in life is to share the gospel.

That is my passion.

I try to tell everyone I can.

I read my Bible because I want to hear from God and want to know more how to share with others, not because I feel I have to.

I am more excited about Christ that I thought possible.

Some say I have the gift of evangelism, but I am not so sure.

I am shy and would prefer to sit quietly and not make a scene.

But I just know that if Christ means everything to me, I must share the gospel with others.

Charles Spurgeon says "Have you no wish for others to be saved?

Then you are not saved yourself.

Be sure of that."

Now that may seem kind of harsh, and I know it struck a nerve in me when I first read that.

Obviously, that is not always the case, but it made me think.

97.4% That is the going rate these days for how many churchgoers in one evangelical denomination will die without once - not once - telling another person how he or she can be saved through Christ Jesus.

And yet many, if not most, if not all of the people in those congregations would probably say that their relationship with Jesus is the single greatest priority in their lives.

How can this be?

Evangelism is the responsibility of everyone.

Not just the pastors, not just the full-time missionaries, but everyone.

Paul tells Timothy, “But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

(2 Timothy 4:5)

Bill Fay in his booklet “The Sin of Silence” says, “End all doubt about your salvation.

There are many in the church who have never truly bowed their knee to Jesus Christ, repenting of their sins, receiving His forgiveness by faith, and confessing Him as Lord.

Believe it or not, that is just the facts.

And if the sin of silence regarding sharing your faith is something you never intend to repent of - like any other sin that may have invaded your heart and life - I believe it’s fair to ask why you choose Christ and not care if anyone else does.

The painful truth for why many people struggle with the sin of silence - why they don’t share the good news of Jesus with those they know and those they meet - is that a person can’t give away what he doesn’t have.”

Athiest Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller, says this in an YouTube video - “If you believe there is a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell, or not get eternal life, and you think it is not really worth telling them this, because it would make it socially awkward ... how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?

How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

I know that for much of my life my assurance of salvation was based on a decision that I made, not on the finished work of Christ.

It was the sincerity of my words.

How is that different from those that base their salvation on baptism, on communion, or any other good works?

The Sinner’s Prayer has become just another good work.

The verse that is usually used to support the sinner’s prayer is Romans 10:9-10, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Yet people do not look at the context.

They were not in America, they were in a culture where confessing Jesus as Lord, could get them killed.

It also means to make Jesus Lord, not just intellectual assent.

Now I realize that many people do come to Christ through just such a prayer, but it is in spite of it not because of it.

Pastor Chitwood used to say that many people will be surprised in heaven to find out when they really became born again.

I have a sentence in my Bible that summarizes faith for me - “Father, I am going to trust only in what you have done for me in your son Jesus Christ and if that work is not strong enough to save me, then I am going to hell because I refuse to believe in any other thing.”

Why is there so little evidence of Christ in the lives of so many so-called Christians?

Is it because they are basing their salvation on a decision that they made, on something THEY did, not on Christ and what He did?

They think it is all about doing something to earn salvation.

Do you think that you are covered because you prayed a prayer as a child or youth, so now you are free to ignore Him and live life for yourself.

The evidence of whether you are saved, is if you continue to repent and believe.

Do you have to live a sinless life?

Of course not.

But if you have no desire to live for Christ, then you must examine your life.

Question: Do you love the things that God loves and hate the things that God hates?