Sermon Tone Analysis

“[Jesus] laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.

I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

[1]

On one occasion, returning from a fishing trip I had stopped for gas.

As the attendant filled the tank, I spoke with him, inquiring about his faith.

He proudly stated he was a good Muslim.

I testified, “The major deficit in your religion is that you do not have a living Saviour.”

Of course, the man wanted to know what I meant.

I pointed out that the founder of Buddhism was dead; his body was cremated and relics were placed in monuments.

The grave of Confucius is in his home town of Qufu, Shandong Province, China.

Mohammed is buried in the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi in the city of Medina.

However, I reminded the gentleman that he could travel to Jerusalem where he could see the tomb of Jesus, God’s Anointed One.

And that tomb is empty!

This exciting truth lies at the heart of the Christian Faith—the Tomb is empty; Christ the Lord has conquered death.

The fifth chapter of Genesis undoubtedly qualifies as one of the darkest chapters of the Word of God.

That chapter gives the account of Adam’s descendants to Noah.

Each one lived for what we think of as fantastic length of days.

However, with the sole exception of Enoch, who was taken directly by God, each account of an individual concludes with this dreadful notation, “and he died.”

[2] God had warned our first father, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” [GENESIS 2:17].

Recalling this dreadful act, Paul writes, “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” [ROMANS 5:12-14].

Some weeks ago, because of severe illness, Brother Jason filled the pulpit, reminding us of the Gospel.

His masterful presentation, well worth your time to listen to, can be heard here: http://newbeginningsbaptist.ca/674082.

Let me iterate that message by pointing again to Paul’s words.

“I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me [1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-8].

The Good News of Jesus Christ is that Christ died for our sins, just as prophesied in Scripture; He was buried and then raised on the third day, as prophesied in Scripture; and He was seen.

His was not a “spirit resurrection” as some cults argue—He rose bodily from the grave and ascended into heaven.

Incarcerated on the Aegean Island of Patmos, the Apostle of Love worshipped on “the Lord’s Day”—the first day of the week.

Let me step aside from the message for a moment to observe a significant truth.

The first followers of the Master were Jewish.

Consequently, they had been trained under the law to keep the Sabbath—the seventh day—as a day of rest.

However, Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week.

After that, the followers of Christ the Lord met on the first day of the week to worship.

[3] Ever after, this first day was to be known as “The Lord’s Day.” [4] The Christian focuses on the resurrection of Christ, for in conquering death He has forever set us free from the fear of death.

Moreover, the first day of the week became a day for joyous celebration, as is appropriate for a day of worship.

The Lord’s Day quickly became a day to rejoice in new life that results from the Christ’s Resurrection.

While worshipping one Lord’s Day, John heard a loud voice saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea” [REVELATION 1:11].

Turning to see, as he says in quaint language, “the voice that was speaking,” he witnessed the Risen Son of God in unveiled majesty and glory.

John’s description is not of the “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” such as has been popularised by modern religionists.

He saw the Son of God in His full glory.

“In the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow.

His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength” [REVELATION 1:13-16].

Awestruck, John fell on his face before the Lord of Glory; and no wonder the Apostle fell before this grand personage!

However, when he fell before the Master, Jesus relieved his fear, just as He relieves our fear.

John writes, “[Jesus] laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.

I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” [REVELATION 1:17b, 18].

The message the Master delivered is the message of Easter—the message of hope and victory for His people to this day.

I DIED — The Gospel of Jesus Christ begins with His death.

“The Bible” has been playing recently on television, and the final episode was presented this week.

It ended, as might be expected, with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I’m not a fan of Hollywood interpreting this holy book.

James asked, “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?

Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs?

Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water” [JAMES 3:11, 12].

Why should anyone anticipate that a corrupt entity such as the movie industry will accurately present the biblical message?

Similarly, I do not require Hollywood to inform me what is meant by God’s presentation of divine truth.

Let me say quite clearly that Jesus presented His life as a sacrifice.

He Himself testified, “The Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” [JOHN 10:17, 18].

I understand that Roman soldiers drove the spikes into His hands and His feet.

I am fully aware that Pilate pronounced the sentence that He should be crucified.

I am well-versed in the knowledge that the Jewish religious leaders demanded His death.

However, we must not forget that Jesus made it quite clear that He presented His life as a sacrifice for fallen man.

We read the words that are printed saying that we understand what has been written; however, they present divine mystery that leaves us to wonder.

Paul urged believers, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” [PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8].

Moreover, we have each read the words with which the Apostle opens the Letter to Roman Christians.

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” [ROMANS 1:1-4].

How the death of Christ provides propitiation for mankind’s sin cannot be explained; it can, however, be experienced.

There is provided, in the Letter to Hebrew Christians, an explanation that is as close as we shall ever come in this life to receiving an explanation of what transpired.

The passage is somewhat extended, but it will undoubtedly prove fruitful in gaining understanding of the purchase secured through the sacrifice of the Master.

“It was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.

But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

“For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

“Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

‘“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

but a body have you prepared for me;

in burnt offerings and sin offerings

you have taken no pleasure.

Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.”’

“When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’

He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” [HEBREWS 9:23-10:10].

Throughout the days of His flesh, Jesus maintained a singular focus on His great mission.

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” [MATTHEW 20:28].

Obviously, His sacrifice became a central facet of the Good News proclaimed by those who followed our Master.

Writing of the faith of Abraham, Paul speaks of, “Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” [ROMANS 4:23-25].

As he opens the Letter to Galatian Christians, the Apostle writes, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age” [GALATIANS 1:3, 4].