Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome this morning!

I’m thrilled you’re here.

Join me please in Philippians 1 and Romans 12.

We are in week 3 of a 4 week mini series we’ve entitled “Applying the Gospel.”

We began this journey defining what the Gospel is with 4 truths.

Can anyone tell me the 4 truths?

1. God is the Creator of everything – including humanity

Therefore He sets the parameters of life and we all will give an account of our lives to Him

2. Humanity has rebelled against the Creator and deserves eternal punishment

No one is exempt from the brokenness that resulted from the fall of Adam and Eve

3. Jesus came to give those who are dead in sin, life!

4. We are called to respond in repentance and faith

Repentance means to turn away from our rebellion against God.

It doesn’t mean that we bring an immediate end to our sinning, but that we’ll never again live at peace with our sins - because of it’s severity.

We are also to turn to God in faith.

Faith is reliance.

It is a trust in the risen Jesus to save you from your sins.

We concluded the first week with the question: “How does the truth of the gospel apply to you?”

Are you living your life with a knowledge of the gospel, but never applying it to your own need?

Have you yet turned to your Creator in repentance and faith in His plan of Jesus?

Last week, we looked at the reality that the gospel is not only relegated to salvation, as simply a get-out-of-hell-free card, but how it applies to our sanctification.

(Easton Bible Dictionary) Sanctification - involves more than a mere moral reformation of character, brought about by the power of the truth:

Sanctification is the carrying on to perfection the work begun in regeneration, and it extends to the whole man

Sanctification refers then, to the process of gradual purification from sin and progressive spiritual growth that should mark the life of the believer

And as we saw last week, it begins with our minds.

Our desires dictate our direction.

If our affections are on things of the flesh, we will pursue the direction of our flesh.

If our affections are on things of the Spirit, we will pursue the direction of the Spirit.

The apostle John addressed our common issue in his first epistle:

Paul Tripp in his daily devotional “New Morning Mercies” highlights the logic of this passage:

1. SIN IS A BIG DEAL

Grace has brought us into personal communion with a God who is holy in every way.

He dwells in eternal light.

The darkness of our sin is what separates us from him.

The whole movement of history from the time of the fall announces to us that God takes sin so seriously that he wrote the story of history so that his Son would come and, through his life and death, deal with sin and bridge the gap between God and the creatures made in his image.

You cannot be serious about your relationship with God and not take sin seriously.

2. Because sin is a big deal, the cleansing blood of Jesus is our only hope.

Jesus came and lived and died because sin is so powerful, destructive, and comprehensive in its effects in us, that there is no way we could have ever escaped it or defeated it on our own.

3. Denying remaining sin is the height of self-deception.

You and I lay down so much daily empirical evidence of our struggle with sin that it takes a deep commitment to denial for us to convince ourselves that we are, in fact, okay.

Every time we excuse, minimize, rationalize, or point the finger of blame, we are participating in that system of denial.

4. God is always faithful to the promises of the cross of Jesus.

Your Savior loves to forgive.

He really is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love!

5. Denying sin makes a liar out of God and denies the message of his Word.

Here’s the bottom line— either God, in his Word, is true when he says that you have a problem you can’t solve or you’re right, that you’re not so bad after all.

It can’t be both ways.

Hodges puts it this way: The more holy a man is, the more humble, self-renouncing, self-abhorring, and the more sensitive to every sin he becomes, and the more closely he clings to Christ.

FAITH IN THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL DOES NOT ONLY SAVE US, BUT IT MATURES US.

Yes, it justifies us, but it also sanctifies us.

And this sanctification process is synergistic.

God is at work within us, changing our affections through His Word and by His Spirit, and we too are involved as active participants as we humbly submit to that change.

It’s not God doing a work in robots.

Nor is it all about me figuring it out and trying a little harder each time until I eventually master life.

God is at work in believers, and He uses His Word and His Spirit to initiate change.

Believers then respond in faith through humble submission to that initiating work.

Examples:

(negative) Sin - A believer reads a passage, the Spirit prompts us about our struggle, we then apply the passage to our situation

Because our new relationship with Jesus has changed how we relate to sin

(positive) Outflow of this new life in Christ - As we study His Word He reveals things (not just what shouldn’t be a part of our lives) but also what should be a part.

Not only should I stop doing some things as He prompts, but there are some things I should start.

But the Christian life is not only about what we do and don’t do.

It involves the manifestations of what we say we believe, but it is broader than that.

Theology - God teaches us how to dwell with Him in a personal relationship.

This relationship stems from what we know to be true about Him, what He reveals is true about us, and how we continually walk in adoration of His grace.

What you believe about God will dictate how you live your life.

If you believe, as the Bible teaches, that God is your Creator, Sustainer, and Savior you will live differently.

And this is the sanctification process.

God is at work, initiating change, and we submit.

It’s about believing His Word, remaining sensitive to His promptings, and submitting our will to His.

And as I do that over and over again, overtime I am (as Romans 8 says)

So, the truth of the Gospel saves us, matures us, but it also keeps us to the end.

When was the last time you didn’t feel like believing the Gospel?

What was happening?

Physical pain, emotional turmoil?

Overwhelming odds?

These times bring to surface just how shallow our faith really is.

At times we lose the desire to trust and obey, because somewhere in our core we think that our devotion to God and abstinence from sin deserves an easy life.

And if God doesn’t make good on that, that somehow we are betrayed and wonder whether the truth of Scripture is really true at all.

Thankfully, our perseverance in faith is not up to us.

We persevere in faith not because of our own power to believe, but because the gospel holds us to the end.

Now, when studying perseverance it’s important to understand what genuine faith is.

Genuine faith is not necessarily praying a prayer, or walking an isle, or getting dunked in water.

Many a Christian (me included) has used a term “Once saved, always saved” and there has stemmed from that statement this thought that behavior has no relevance for the Christian life.

Because they have prayed a prayer, walked an isle, been baptized they can do whatever they want.

In fact, a person may not even believe in Jesus anymore, but they’ve got the salvation issue taken care of just in case.

The bible is incredibly realistic about self deception.

Now, does God want us to live in constant doubt?

NO!

But there is the possibility that we are hoping in the wrong thing.

Matt Chandler wrote, “We might be masquerading as people of faith, only to come to the horrifying realization later that we had never been radically and dramatically seized by the gospel.”

Paul addressed it this way

The word translated disqualified was used to describe metals which, when tested, were found to be false.

So the Corinthians were either true believers, or they were disqualified by failure to pass the test of genuineness.

When it comes to the perseverance of saints, we must:

1. Examine the genuineness of our personal faith.

The faith of a relative isn’t enough for us.

We must individually and genuinely respond to Jesus by faith.

2. Rest in scriptural truth

Paul was confident that the Philippian believers would persevere in their faith because God had started a good work in them, and God always finishes what He starts.