Sermon Tone Analysis

Grasping the Benefits of Having the Son

I want to read to you from Scripture about what the Ultimate Father did.

"For God so loved the world, He gave His one and only Son, that whoever, believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

(John 3:16)

I would propose to you that those who receive the Father's gift, receives all the Father has.

The Bible gives us this wonderful truth, "What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.

He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.

So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.

But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.'

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir."

(Galatians 4:1-7)

You and I are sons through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives.

The benefits of being a son of God are many.

Listen carefully to these seven.

1.)

The benefit of sacrificial love.

There’s no greater love than that shown by Jesus Christ.

John 15:13 says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrated His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

While people were living for themselves, not knowing or loving Christ, He died for their redemption.

He gave His life, so we may know the Father, know Him and walk in step with the Holy Spirit.

That kind of love must be treasured; someone may have given his life for a friend, co-worker, or partner in service of our country.

Christ died for those who despised Him

It must be remembered, when we accepted Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we were not only adopted into the Father’s family as sons and daughters, we were drafted in the war for the souls of mankind.

(Matthew 28:18-20) It must also be noted that Jesus' death for all of mankind was a demonstration of His love for us, not a response of our love for Him.

"During World War II, an enemy submarine approached a fleet of ships in the North Atlantic.

The captain of one vessel spotted the white mark of a torpedo coming directly at his ship.

His transport was loaded with literally hundreds and hundreds of young soldiers on the way to the European front.

He realized they would not have time to maneuver to avoid the torpedo.

He grabbed the loud-speaker and cried out, 'Boys, this it!'

Nearby though, a little escorting destroyer also observed the torpedo.

The captain ordered, 'Full speed ahead!' His ship steamed into the path of the torpedo.

The destroyer was blown up; it sank very quickly.

Every man on board died.

The captain of the troop transport ship sadly said, 'The skipper of that destroyer was our friend.'

(AMG Bible Illustrations)

With the sins of the world are on its way to destroy all of mankind, Jesus, sacrificed His life on the cross so we may receive eternal life.

He is the Friend who gave His life for us.

2.) The benefit of Grace.

Titus 2:11 says, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people."

This grace from God is offered to all of mankind.

When Christ enters a man by the Holy Spirit, he is under a special grace that sustains the soul in time of need.

(2 Corinthians 12:9) It provides strength.

(1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Timothy 2:1) It produces thanksgiving and glory to God. (2 Corinthians 4:15) It affects our conversations.

(Colossians 4:6) And it enables believers to live holy and godly lives.

(2 Corinthians 1:12)

Annie Johnson Flint, quoted in John R. Rice's, Poems That Preach says it beautifully, "He giveth more grace when burdens grow greater, He sendth more strength when the labors increase.

To added afflictions, He addeth His mercy, to multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed when the day is half done.

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure.

His power no boundary known to men.

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus.

He giveth and giveth and giveth again."

(The Tales of the Tardy Oxcart, Swindoll)

3.) The benefit of mercy.

Titus 3:5 says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, Whom He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

"Mercy" (eleon) means "to feel compassion, pity, and show kindness."

It draws oneself to want to care for someone who cannot help themselves.

It enables one to see a need and meet the need.

God not only beheld our need for salvation, He enables us to receive His salvation found in Christ.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God not only sees our need for righteous living, He also enables to live a righteous life.

Upon our repentance, we receive His mercy freely at no cost to us.

(The Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible)

In Reader's Digest, Jim Williams of Butte, Montana, writes, "I was driving too fast one night when I saw the flashing lights of a police car in my rearview mirror.

As I pulled over and rolled down the window of my station wagon, I tried to dream up an excuse for my speeding.

But when the patrolman reached the car, he said nothing.

Instead, he merely shinned the flashlight in my face, then upon my seven-months-pregnant wife, then on our snoozing 18-month-old in his car seat, then our three other children, who were also asleep, and lastly on the two dogs in the very back of the car.

Returning the beam back to my face, he then uttered the only words of the encounter.

'Son,' he said, 'you can't afford a ticket.

Slow it down.'"

Sometimes, mercy triumphs over the law.

According to the law of God, we all deserve God's judgment.

However, in Christ Jesus we receive mercy and we are prompted by the Holy Spirit to live a life pleasing to God.

4.) We have the benefit of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 4:13 says, "This how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us His Spirit."

With a continuous and ongoing awareness, there is an intimate communion with God by His Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God." Romans 6:11 gives us this promise, "And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because His Spirit who lives in you."

Charles Swindoll wrote: "A number of miles from the Los Angeles basin, there is a river.

The river has been damned up by man, and through the genius and innovation of engineers, they have put together a dam that has, in its process of working, housed electricity--hundreds of thousands of volts that are fed into the Los Angeles basin.

If you were to go to the various transmission plants along the way, you would read signs marked with, 'Danger, High Voltage.' 'No trespassing, Danger.' Hundreds of thousands of volts are available in energy for your home, but who needs a hundred thousand volts, unless he wants to burn up his home?

To keep a home from burning down, engineers have built transformers into the system - not transmitters, but transformers.

The transformers does nothing more than break down into meaningful units, just the right amount of electricity you need.

I have in my home, for example, another transformer.

One Christmas I gave myself an HO gauge train.

There is a tiny unit called a transformer on the train set, and it breaks down the 110 volts from the wall to even less.

Why, if you plugged into a straight 110 outlet, that train would go pzzzttt! for one second and then burn up.

The transformer for the train breaks the electricity down for the small train engine to run just right, so the train just putt, putt at just the right speed.

When the Holy Spirit, the transformer, comes, He will take the majestic truths of God and will dispense it just the way you need it, give it to you with handles that you can take and use.

It is the Spirit's delight to take the full truth of God and make one thing meaningful to that woman, something altogether different to that man, and something different again to that fellow down there.

That's the work of the Spirit, and He never makes a mistake.

He gives you just what you can handle."

(The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Swindoll)

Christians can depend on the Holy Spirit to equip and empower them with just what they need in their service to the Lord.

5.) We have the benefit of forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

When a person acknowledges his sin and in repentance confesses those sins before the Lord, his sins are forgiven.

By virtue of the cleansing effect of Jesus' atoning death the repentant sinner is fit for fellowship with God the Father, Jesus His Son and enabled to walk in step with the Holy Spirit.

(The New American Commentary)

John instructs Christians on what to do when sin overcomes them and the benefits of confession to the Lord.

It begins with confession: "confess" (is homologeō - ὁμολογεω) means to agree with another or rather to agree with God as to all the implication of the sin committed by the child of God.

This includes the hatred of that sin, the Christians sense of guilt because of it and his heart desire to put that sin out of his life.