Sermon Tone Analysis

*5 Rock-Solid Truths for an Uncertain Year*

*Selected Scriptures*

\\ \\ \\   Let’s open our Bibles to 1 John...1 John chapter 5.  If you just glance at verses 13 to 21, you will recognize the word “know” is there.

Verse 13, “That you may know.”

Verse 15, “If we know and He hears us, we know we have the requests we’ve asked.”

If you drop down to verse 18, “We know that no one who is born of God sins.”

Verse 19, “We know that we are of God.”  Verse 20, “And we know that the Son of God has come that we might...verse 20...know Him who is true.”

This is all about what we know.

\\   \\ You will also recognize that the word “confidence” appears in verse 14, “And this is the confidence...”  What is in verse 13, we know.

What is in verses 14 through 17 is one subject about which we can be confident.

What is in verse 18 we know.

What is in verse 19 we know.

What is in verse 20 we know.

And a final warning appears in verse 21.

This is about what we know.

That’s why I’ve called it Christian certainties.

\\   \\ Now obviously we live in a very, very uncertain world.

We hear this all the time, that these are very unstable times, uncertain times.

We struggle against all of the uncertainties that we face.

And, of course, since the terrible tragedy of 9-11 a couple of years ago, there is a new kind of uncertainty injected into our daily lives, the fear of terrorism.

We are uncertain when we fly.

We are uncertain when we are in public places.

This introduces to us a new uncertainty.

There are increasing uncertainties about walking down the street and just being in a visible place because there are bombings and there are drive-by shootings, and you all know the uncertainties with which we live.

\\ \\ And there are some more common uncertainties.

When we buy a car, we are uncertain that it’s going to function well and so we want a guarantee.

And the manufacturer provides a guarantee and if he didn’t provide a guarantee we wouldn’t buy the car.

And then fearing that we might have an accident for which we could not pay and then get sued, we hedge against that uncertainty by buying an insurance policy and spend our lives pouring a small fortune into the insurance company for something that hasn’t happened.

But it might.

And when you go to a store to buy an appliance, you are immediately told by the sales person that you need to buy a 36 month warranty, or you need to buy a service guarantee, which is another way of saying this is a lousy product, something could go wrong.

And many people do that.

There’s uncertainty about our health and so we spend thousands of dollars a year buying either insurance or buying into some kind of a medical plan to protect us from illness and accident and catastrophic issues that might come into our lives physically.

\\   \\ There’s even uncertainty of life in a family.

And so insurance policies are basically purchased so that should the bread-winner, the husband, die there’s money immediately given to the wife.

Most of you women sitting out there would be far wealthier if your husband was dead than you are now...or certainly many of you.

\\   \\ There’s uncertainty with employment, so we have unemployment insurance...and so it goes.

I talked to a professional athlete that when he negotiated his massive contract, it included the provision in the contract that in case of injury or accident that made him impossible for him to play that his complete salary would be paid for the full length of the contract which happened to be five years, and he would receive an additional 200 percent of that contract for his injury.

And they signed him, of course.

\\   \\ There is uncertainty about fire and theft so you have a Homeowner’s policy.

There’s even uncertainty now about marrying people so we now have pre-nuptial agreements where a partner’s want a hedge against somehow being extorted by the person they’re marrying.

And so it goes.

\\   \\ People are so uncertain that they will literally spend huge percentages of their money to cover all of the potential contingencies.

And there are other people who will pay large amounts of money to mediums, astrologers, fortune tellers to have some insight into the future, to remove some of the fearful uncertainty.

\\   \\ And I suppose a good question to ask an unbeliever when you talk to one is, what are you absolutely certain of?

And, you know, the standard answer is death and taxes.

But beyond that, and death might be a good place to stop, but beyond that sort of trite answer...what are you really certain of?

You can’t be certain that this planet is going to be here.

The second law of thermodynamics tells us that all the material universe is tending toward disorder and disruption.

You can’t depend upon anything material, anything physical.

You can’t really depend on people.

There are no guarantees about how people are going to treat you in the future, even your own spouse and your own family, your parents, your children.

\\   \\ It’s very hard for an unbeliever to answer the question, “What are you absolutely certain of?”

And if you can get that person to say, “Well I am certain of death,” you’ve put them in a very, very good position.

Well after you’ve died, what then are you certain of?

Poses the inevitable question about eternal life.

\\   \\ Well against the background of living in an uncertain world and living basically with people who are uncertain about almost everything, the Bible is a divine revelation that is filled with absolute certainties...absolute certainties.

Let me just suggest a few of them that I jotted down.

Numbers 32:23, “Be sure your sin will find you out,” that’s a certainty.

Or Psalm 19:7, “The testimony of the Lord, Scripture, is sure.”

The Bible is certain.

\\ \\ The consequence of sin is certain.

Proverbs 11:18, “To him that sows righteousness assure reward.”

Job 34:12, “God will not do wickedly,” that is certain.

Isaiah 53:4, “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”

It is assuredty(?) that Jesus has done that.

In fact, in Isaiah 55:3 it speaks of the sure mercies of the Lord.

His mercies are certain.

John 6:69, Peter said, “We are certain that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  John 16:30, “We are sure that You know all things.”

John 17:8, “They have known surely...says Jesus...that I came from You.”  Romans 2:2, “We are certain that the judgment of God is according to truth.”

Romans 4:16, “The promise of salvation is sure.”  2 Timothy 2:19, “The foundation of God is sure.”

Hebrews 6:19, “Christ is a sure anchor in the presence of God.”  Second Peter 1:19, “Scripture is a sure word of prophecy.”

Revelation 22:20 Jesus said, “Surely I come quickly.”

\\   \\ There’s a few and many, many, many more.

We deal in certainties in an uncertain world.

That is a problem for our uncertain world, isn’t it?

It is an offense to people to say that you are certain about everything.

It is really an intolerable posture and position to take.

But it is the truth.

The Bible is a book of absolutes.

It’s a book of certainties.

We are certain how the universe began.

We are certain how it will end.

We are certain why God created and how His purpose in the beginning will consummate in the end.

We are certain about why people behave the way they behave.

We are certain about what is right and what is wrong.

We are certain about the elements that make for good human relationships.

We are certain about what is necessary to go to heaven.

We are certain that there is a hell and certain about how people get there.

We are certain about all those things.

\\   \\ We are certain about God’s promises, certain about His Son, the Savior.

Certain about His substitutionary death, His literal resurrection, certain about His Second Coming.

We are certain about all these things, absolutely certain.

\\   \\ Now you understand again that is not something that is easily accepted in our society.

But we are unique in a world of doubters.

God has even given us a guarantee for the truth of His redemptive promise.

In Ephesians 1:14 it says, “He’s given as a pledge,” that’s a guarantee, “of our inheritance, the Holy Spirit of promise.”

\\   \\ When you became a believer, you put your trust in Jesus Christ...why?

Because you came to the conviction and the belief that all God’s promises were true.

Is that right?

You came to the conviction that what He said about you is true.