Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Almost everyone knows of Lazarus, the man whose name has become immortal because of his experience of being raised from the bondage and darkness of death to the liberty and light of life.

Few people are conscious, however, of the Jewish woman by the name of Lazarus.

Her poem is engraved on the pedestal of the Statue Of Liberty.

When France made known it was going to give this colossus of "Liberty Enlightening The World" to America, a committee was formed to raise money to build a pedestal for it.

One of the fund raising projects was to sell manuscripts of Longfellow, Walt Whitman, Bret Harte and Mark Twain.

The chairman of the committee asked his friend Emma Lazarus to also contribute a manuscript.

Little did Lazarus realize when she submitted her sonnet that it would one day be engraved on that great statue.

Listen to this poem she wrote in 1883 called The New Colossus.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose fame

Is the imprisoned lightening, and her name

Mother of Exiles.

From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips.

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breath free,

The wretched refuse of your teaming shore.

Send this, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

This poem and the Statue Of Liberty have turned on a light for all the world to see.

Millions have seen it and have come out of bondage into the light of liberty which our great nation offers.

They are still coming today, and that great lamp of liberty in New York Harbor is the greatest symbol of what America has been, and what we hope it will ever be-a land where the light of liberty burns brightly for all people.

It is fitting that a Jew should be the author of the poem at the base of that great lamp of liberty.

The Jews have also been the authors of that lamp of liberty even more notable than the Statue Of Liberty.

We are referring, of course, to the Bible.It has been a lamp unto the feet and a light unto the path of God's people all through history.

Our heritage as Christians is greater and older, and more noble than our heritage as Americans.

In fact, it is our Christian heritage that has made our American heritage the great value it is.

As proud as we are of the Statue Of Liberty, we must recognize that the real honor goes to this book of liberty-the lamp of God's light-the Bible.

It's flame will never flicker and go out, but will continue to shine forever.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but not the Word of God.

Sun moon and stars do not provide light for guidance equal to that of the Bible.

Pollok wrote,

Most wondrous book!

Bright candle of the Lord!

Star of eternity!

The only star

By which the bark of man could navigate

The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss securely.

God's lights in the heavens can guide our feet on earth, but only His light on earth can guide our steps to heaven.

Isaac Watts put it-

The stars, in their courses roll,

Have much instruction given;

But thy good Word informs my soul

How I may climb to heaven.

A Christian never needs to be like the man who could read numbers but not letters.

He said that when he travels he always knows how far but he never knows where to.

Every man knows he is in a certain year along the path of history, but only those who walk in the light of God's lamp know where the path is going.

He has turned on the light of God's lamp, and all the darkness of hell cannot quench it.

Men tried to turn off this light and keep the masses in the bondage of ignorance, but it was as hopeless as trying to turn off the Sun.

Once men saw the light of God's truth, and the glorious message of salvation in Christ, by faith, and for all men, they could never again tolerate the darkness.

Great were the struggles to keep the light on, and many died as martyrs in the struggle, but they died victors for they died in the light, and not in the night.

William Tyndale translated the Bible into English, and by using the new invention of Gutenburg's printing press he was able to print large quantities.

He was strangled to death for his efforts, but he turned on a light that could not be strangled.

Darkness began to retreat, and the 16th century saw a whole series of new translations of the Bible.

The Coverdale Bible, Great Bible, Geneva Bible, Bishops Bible, and then in 1611, the most famous of them all-The King James Version.

There is no doubt that the greatness of our land of liberty is a direct and indirect result of the success of these men.

It was at the cost of much suffering, and even their lives, but they turned on the light that changed all of history.

There may be no way to prove it, but it is likely that the Statue Of Liberty would not be a symbol of America if the Bible had not been put into the English language.

We take it for granted because we can pick up the Bible and read it at any time, but so many seldom do.

If God's light and wisdom were imprisoned in the darkness of an unknown language we would cry out for someone to have mercy, and to give us a translation in our own tongue.

Cowper wrote-

The sacred book no longer suffers wrong,

Bound in the fetters of an unknown tongue,

But speaks with plainness art could never mend,

What simplest minds can soonest comprehend.

We do not treasure what we so easily obtain.

Those who had to struggle to get the Bible appreciated it far more.

We live in a period of history that has more light from God's Word than any Christians have ever had.

Yet with all this wealth we are not walking in any greater wisdom than many of those in the dark ages.

It is because we have the lamp, but we do not turn on the light.

A man with 20 lamps will still go off the path if he does not turn them on.

20 modern versions of the Bible will be no better than one in unreadable Latin if we do not turn it on.

The Psalmist lived in a dark world where enemies were laying snares for him.

He knew the only way to escape and remain free from the clutches of evil men was to turn on the light and walk in it.

That is why we see him pledging himself to obey the light of God's law.

In verse 45 he says, "And I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts."

Here is a man who knows how to preserve his liberty and remain free from the bondage of sin.

"Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee" is his testimony in verse 11.

The Bible was his lamp of liberty, and by its light he walked in perpetual freedom, for the weapons of darkness cannot touch the man who turns on the light and stays in it.

Richard Crashaw wrote-

It is an armory of light

Let constant use but keep it bright,

You'll find it yields

To holy hands and humble hearts,

More swords and shields

Than sin hath snares, or hell hath darts.

The famous saying, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, applies to our subject.

There is only one way to overcome and defeat the darkness of sin and ignorance, and that is by turning on the light of the lamp of God.

The Bible alone can give us the light we need for guidance.

Someone said, "Science equips a man, but does not guide him.

It illumines the universe for him to the region of the most distant star, but it leaves night in his heart."

The Bible alone can drive away the darkness within, for it alone reveal Jesus Christ, the Light Of The World.

Someone wrote,

We trace His image on each page,