Sermon Tone Analysis
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We are continuing where we left off last week.
We are in the middle of the book of Genesis, and winding down our time in the book for this year.
We will spend only about 4 more weeks in it, then put Genesis away for 7 months or so.
We’ve traveled quite a bit these past 5 months.
Back in June we were in chapter 4, and this week we will be in chapter 17.
This week, we are in some of the biggest and most important chapters within the book of Genesis, within the life of Israel, and within the life of a Christian.
One night, in the beginning of , a Pharisee came to Jesus.
His name was Nicodemus.
He was a ruler of the Jews.
He was a part of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews.
He was a very important man.
He came to Jesus at night because he didn’t want to bring too much pressure upon himself.
An important man like him, couldn’t be seen talking to someone as dangerous as Jesus.
Jesus could be bad for his reputation.
Still, his curiosity demanded that he have a chat.
He wanted to find out exactly who Jesus was.
He approached Jesus, and laid it all on the line.
(ESV) , “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
Jesus then responded with these important words, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus is a little perplexed.
What is Jesus talking about?
“You must be born again?”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
“How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus then reiterates what He said the first time, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
What does it mean to be born again?
Today, that phrase is thrown around to describe Christians, but not all Christians, only some Christians.
The born again Christians, are the hardcore Christians.
They are the ones who are really serious about their faith.
Sometimes they are seen as a political force.
Politicians try to capture the born again vote.
This isn’t what it means to be born again.
And until we know what it means to be born again, we’ll never know why it’s so important to be born again.
Jesus said, “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
That sounds like it’s pretty important.
Let’s see why.
We are continuing in .
Open your Bibles to
Read Genesis 17:9-14
This text begins with a Call to Action.
This lays out what God expects of mankind.
This lays out what God expects of mankind.
Remember, our initial question is why does man need to be born again, and how this text explains that to us.
Back at the beginning of chapter 17, God told Abraham, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,”
And here in verse 9, God says, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.”
This is the call to action.
This is what God expects.
God commands and expects us to be blameless, to be perfect.
In , Jesus said something similar, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
This is what God expects of mankind, absolute perfection.
The reality of all this is that none of us are perfect.
We have all broken what God has commanded us to do.
Any time we break God’s law, it’s called sin.
The truly heart breaking thing about sin, is that everyone sins.
The truly heart breaking thing about sin, is that everyone sins.
It’s easy to point to the really bad person and say, he has sinned.
It’s easy to point to the person that is so wicked, that he looks nothing like us, and say he is a sinner.
Isn’t it funny how whenever we need an example of a sinner, we never talk about your grandma, or your mom, or even yourself?
Who do we talk about?
Hitler.
Stalin.
Charles Manson.
Yea, cause these are your average sinners.
Why don’t we use more common examples?
Because if we used more “normal” people, it’d be too convicting, and we’d sound judgmental.
One of my favorite responsibilities as a pastor is doing funerals.
I’m not looking to do any right now, I’m just saying, it’s an honor to oversee the funeral of a beloved saint who has died.
When I do a funeral for someone I don’t know, or for someone that I never knew if they were a Christian, I do it differently, then if I were to preach at the funeral for someone I knew closely.
If I don’t know the person, I’ll preach the Gospel, but it’s not going to be as personal as if it was for someone that I knew closely.
Because I don’t know the person, I’m not going to be able to share as many stories, I don’t have the persons face in my head, because I never knew him.
Often times the family claims the person was a Christian, actually, almost every time family says the person is in heaven.
Yet, the person was a stranger to church, there was never any evidence of conversion.
So, rather then give anyone a false assurance;
I preach the Gospel, sidestepping the question of if the person is in heaven or not.
But if I knew the person, well that’s different.
It’s much more intimate and personal.
A few times, I’ve even been able to plan the service with the individual before they died and go over what I’m going to say.
I remember, one time preaching the message at a funeral for someone that I loved.
And in the process of preaching the Gospel, I came to sin.
It was an older woman who had died.
I knew the person.
I was able to plan her service with her before she died.
I explained what her hope was.
I explained that her hope wasn’t in herself, because she was a sinner.
Her sin, disqualified her from going to heaven, which is why she was a Christian.
I went on to explain that in her sin, she deserved Hell.
I went on to explain that in her sin, she deserved Hell.
Because she needed Christ to save her.
But because of Christ’s death, she is with the Lord, and what wonderful news that is!
Later on in the service, her granddaughter came up to say a few words, and she clearly wasn’t happy with what I said.
Her first words were, “My grandma was not a sinner.”
You see, it’s easy to say Hitler is a sinner, but not as easy to say your grandma is a sinner.
But the reality is that we have all sinned.
We all may not have sinned like the mass murderer, or the evil dictator, but that doesn’t mean we are innocent.
We deflect guilt, but comparing ourselves to the really bad guy.
There’s this guy that Karen and I know, who’s a huge Yankees fan.
As the baseball playoffs approached, he was telling us how the Yankees were going to win the World Series.
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