Sermon Tone Analysis

Before you begin your Bible study, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, be sure you have named your sins privately to God the Father.

/If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[Known, Unknown and Forgotten sins] /(1Jn 1:9)

 

You will then be in fellowship with God, Filled with God the Holy Spirit and ready to learn Truth from the Word of God.

 

/God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth./

(John 4:24)

 

*/ /*

*/HOUSE OF CARDS/*

 

 

*A FOUNDATION OF SAND*

 

     One of the best known Biblical parables is the story of the two foundations.

(Matt 7:24-27) One man built his house upon sand.

When the storms came, the sand shifted and the house crumbled.

The other man built his house upon a rock.

Because of this solid foundation, his house withstood every storm.

The analogies to the foundation and the superstructure are generally familiar.

The believer who tries to gain Spiritual maturity, (Favor with God) by his own thoughts and ability is depending on a foundation of sand.

It will not hold up in the light of God’s judgment.

(John 6:63; Rom 8:7-8)

 

     /According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it.

But each man must be careful how he builds on it.

For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

[Salvation] Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, [God's Thoughts] wood, hay, straw, [Human thoughts and or programs of the old sin nature] /(1Co 4:20)/ each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, [God's Omniscience] and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.

If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

/(Mark 4:20; Luk 12:42-44) /If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; /(Matt 13:12) /but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

/(Mark 9:49; Luk 12:46-49)/ /(1Co 3:10-15)

 

     The believer who is legalistic, self-righteous and or moralistic; that is, he considers morality the Christian way of life; is constructing his Christian life upon a foundation of sand.

This type of believer seeks to build a superstructure of righteousness upon someone else’s unrighteousness.

He has spent his lifetime comparing his own good points with the bad points of others, and he sees himself with a halo.

(1Co 4:6; (2Co 10:12) In doing this, he has constructed a HOUSE OF CARDS!

To such a person, life is merely an overt and superficial system of morality.

Consequently, he says with confidence, “I have not done those horrible, monstrous things; therefore, I am righteous.”

Like the Pharisee, he thanks God that he is not like /“other men.”/ (Luk 18:9-14)

     The area of weakness of the self-righteous person is the type of carnality which begins with mental attitude sins.

Self-righteousness is the breeding ground for vindictiveness and unforgiveness, as well as a subtle form of jealousy, strife and bitterness.

(1Co 3:1-3) Perhaps you have observed some of the immoral types having fun, and there is a little jealousy on your part.

You see, rationalizing your own righteousness is a coin with two sides.

On one side of the coin you build a house of cards; on the other side you resent certain things.

You become bitter, you judge, gossip, malign and slander.

Then when you find in your own life the same inevitable weaknesses, failures and sins which emanate from the old sin nature, you cannot face the Reality of those weaknesses.

Therefore, in order to justify yourself, you must say, “I didn’t really do this.

“Or, “Someone else caused me to do it.”

So you add to the cluster of sins already accumulated under the Principle of “operation patsy.”

You refuse to take the responsibility for your own failures; you won’t “rebound” and keep moving!

You won’t admit, “All right, I have failed; I was wrong,” and then forget it and move on!

What is the result?

Your Spiritual life shrivels up, your capacity for life disappears, and you become the worst kind of person in the world — a self-righteous monster!

As a self-righteous believer, you will inevitably want to “play God.”

You will not only have your own house of cards, (Which folds up as soon as any wind of adversity blows) but you will also want to regulate the lives of others.

You will try to squeeze those around you into your mold.

You can’t build your life on someone else’s unrighteousness any more than you can build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness.

In fact, you cannot build your life on anything but the true Standard of staying in fellowship and learning God's Thoughts and Thinking with Them! (Matt 7:24; John 4:24) You become a Spiritual adult the day you are willing to take responsibility for ALL your Thoughts as well as for ALL of your decisions!

(No excuse Sir! Prov 28:13)

 

*THE CONDEMNATION OF THE MORAL AND THE IMMORAL MAN*

 

     The first two chapters of the Book of Romans set forth a contrast between the moral and the immoral man.

Chapter One denounces the overt sins of immorality; but Chapter Two says that the person who only THINKS sin is just as guilty before God as the person who  mentally and overtly practices sin! Chapter One concludes:

 

/     And although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

/(Rom 1:32)

 

     In Romans chapter One and Two, PRASSO is used for the practice of overt or obvious sins, while POIEO is used for hidden sinning.

The moral man’s sins are predominantly mental; (More mental than overt) the immoral man sins with the volition of his soul plus his body.

Sins which are confined to the soul have a tendency to multiply more rapidly.

Those sins which are confined to the body have more social restraint placed upon them.

Therefore, the moral man is not as well off as he may think!

He adds sins to sins.

He thinks sins and then uses his tongue to follow them up.

Although the immoral man may have a tendency to avoid some of these hypocrisies, BOTH are equally guilty before God!

     Since judgment is the sole prerogative of God, no one else has the right to judge either the moral or the immoral man.

Both are judged according to the Standards of the Word of God.

(Rom 2:15-16) Now obviously, there are certain areas where the immoral man is judged by the laws of the land, and rightly so.

But this passage is looking at the subject only from the standpoint of the self-righteous person.

Chapter Two demonstrates that the moral man is under the same condemnation as the immoral man of Chapter One.

Now this Principle DOES NOT deny the role of obedience to authority; as part of the laws of Divine establishment.

However, it does deny you the right to compare yourself with others whose sins, in your opinion, are worse than yours!

(Luk 6:37; John 8:3-11)

 

*THE CRITICAL ATTITUDE OF THE MORAL MAN*

 

/     Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

/(Rom 2:1)

 

     The /“everyone of you”/ in context is the self-righteous believer, in contrast to the immoral or reversionistic believer, of Chapter One.

Because the moral person can hide his sins behind a facade of self-righteousness and legalizing; that are not as obvious as those of the immoral person; yet the moral person is just as guilty before God as the one he judges.

/     “Judge”/ in the Greek here means /“to judge without a trial or without the facts”/; hence, /“to judge from prejudice.”

/The self-righteous person, (Believer or unbeliever) who is trying to build his righteousness on the unrighteousness of the immoral person is obviously prejudiced favorably toward his own sins; *yet he is said to be thinking the same things that the immoral man is thinking!*

Remember, each member of the human race has an old sin nature, which has many categories of sins as well as the production of human morality.

(Psa 39:5) Although the old sin nature is the source of all sin, each sin nature has a different trend and a different area of weakness.

Confusion exists because of the varied manifestations of personal sin.

For this reason we often condemn certain sins more than others.

Our viewpoint toward sin is influenced by the background and environment in which our human conscience is developed.

But righteousness must come from an absolute Standard, and that Standard is the Word of God.

(Jer 23:6; Jer 33:16)

 

*THE JUDICIAL VERDICT OF GOD*

 

     /And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.

[Condemning] /(Rom 2:2)

 

     Now we have the first Principle of judgment; of the moral or self-righteous man.

/“And”/ introduces a contrast between the false judgment or criticism of the self-righteous legalist and the true evaluation of the Bible.

“We know DOGMATICALLY that the judicial verdict from the source of the God” is correct.

HIS THOUGHTS, expressed to us through the Bible, are absolute and perfect!

(Isa 55:9) The Greek noun ALETHEIA refers specifically here to the DOCTRINE of hamartiology.

(Sin) Man is a sinner because he is born with an old sin nature.

(Rom 5:12; Rom 6:23) Although he is born physically alive, he is at the same time Spiritually dead because of the presence of the sin nature in the soul at birth.

Personal sins come from the sin nature and are manifested in three categories: mental attitude sins, overt sins, and sins of the tongue.

There are always two factors involved in sin: first, the source, which is the sin nature, and second, our choosing to sin: volition.

But although the sin nature is the only source of sin, no one ever sins apart from his own volition.

Even if you don’t know something is a sin, you know you want to do it, and you do it!