Sermon Tone Analysis

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06-12-31.02

07-01-07.02

*Title:           *“Inexpressible Joy” \\ *Sub-title:*   “Sir, your table is ready!”

*FCF:            *gloom is NOT a characteristic of the Christian walk

*D-Theme:   *God keeps us by his power!

*M-Thrust:   *Rejoice with joy inexpressible!

*App:*           We must rejoice with inexpressible joy because God keeps us by his power!

*Comment:  *well, for me this was a powerful message as I was exhausted completely by its delivery.

Not sure how the folks felt about it—or Mike Smith doing a jig but there were many favorable comments @ Haviland Country Chapel and Melrose Church both.

*Subject:     *joy

*Date:          *69A1F051F0D747B28FA76A55D704C0B6

*Text:           *1 Peter 1:3-9

 

3Blessed /be/ the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7that the genuineness of your faith, /being/ much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8whom having not seen you love.

Though now you do not see /Him,/ yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of /your/ souls.

• Introduction

•   Comprehending the incomprehensible

•   Ron Johnson and his family just returned from Arizona…

•   Where they had gone for vacation over the holidays…

•   When we talked on Friday in the light of our scripture text…

•   He told me of a place they visited in Flagstaff…

•   The Lowell Observatory…

•   …a privately owned astronomical research institution…

•   And a walkway there called the Pluto Walk…

•   (the Lowell Observatory is credited with Pluto’s discovery)

•   …a 350-foot scale model of our solar system, illustrating the distances and sizes of each of the nine planets in relation to the Sun.

[1]

•   The distances are represented from our sun to Pluto…

•   By vertical posts with round disks on each…

•   Scaled to the diameter of the planet represented…

•   The point being that as you walk this walk…

•   And read the information on each post…

•   You attempt to comprehend something that is…

•   *Incomprehensible*

•   I mean, how many of us can comprehend a distance of…

•   …2.6 billion to 4.6 billion miles…?

•   Which is the distance of Pluto from our sun…?

•   That is something we cannot comprehend…

•   It can only be represented to us by posts and disks…

•   On a 350 foot long path…

•   Expressing the inexpressible

•   In our text this morning Peter speaks of something similar…

•   Where the Pluto walk aids humans…

•   …in comprehending the incomprehensible…

•   We are called on to express the inexpressible…

•   Joy—the joy of the Lord… which is our strength…

•   In fact, Peter suggests to us that the Christian walk…

•   Is one that is to be characterized by joy…

•   That the characteristic quality of life in Christ Jesus…

•   Is and ought to be that of joy…

•   Contrary to what you may think or believe…

•   Contrary to what your experience may be…

•   …gloom is NOT a characteristic of the Christian walk…

•   The characteristic quality of life in Christ Jesus…

•   Is rejoicing with joy—expressing the inexpressible…

•   It is χαρά: a state of joy and gladness—‘great happiness.’

[2]

•   And it often finds an outward expression…

•   It is experiencing a state of great joy and gladness, often involving verbal expression and appropriate body movement [3]

•   It is ἀγαλλιάω agalliaō; prop.

to jump for joy, i.e. exult:— to be (exceedingly) glad [4]

•   When was the last time you jumped for joy…?

•   How long has it been since you’ve experienced exultation…

•   How long has it been since your heart leaped within…

•   Skipping a beat—dancing with joy…?

•   If it has been a while could it be that we have forgotten…

•   That our God keeps us by his power!

•   That by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ …

•   God birthed us into a living hope…

•   …into an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled…!

•   So what then is the exhortation…?

•   Rejoice with joy inexpressible!

•   Martin Lloyd-Jones in the introduction to his book…

•   /Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure…/

•   Has this to say in the introduction…

•   Unhappy Christians are, to say the least, a poor recommendation for the Christian Faith; and there can be little doubt but that the exuberant joy of the early Christians was one of the most potent factors in the spread of Christianity.

[5]

•   Rejoice with inexpressible joy because…

• …we have a living hope.................................. v. 3

•  3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

•   Verse three is pregnant with reasons for us to rejoice…!

•   Through God’s abundant mercy…

•   /…he has caused us to be born again… ESV NT Rev. Int./ [6]

•   …to a living hope…!

•   abundant mercy

•   God’s great kindness~/compassion expressed to us in need… [7]

•   His tender mercies… his steadfast love…

•   The extending of forgiveness — his patience~/longsuffering…

•   And how great is our need…?

How great is our need…!

Ephesians 2:1-3

1[we…] who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2in which [we] once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

•   born again

•   We who were dead by his mercy have been born again…

•   We who were dead have been made alive…

•   We who were blind have been made to see…

•   He has made a wretch his treasure [8]

•   His purchased possession[9] purchased with His own blood[10]

•   And the result is…?

•   living hope

•   Our confidence—expectation—anticipation… in this life…

•   No longer dead but alive—alive in Jesus Christ…

•   Living, vital, vibrant, animated, lively…

•   The foundation for our rejoicing…