Sermon Tone Analysis
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* **Father, Forgive Them!*
*Introduction…* There is so much going on in our nation today… and of course across the entire world…
Just the news reports of the last few weeks can lead a person to be depressed…
I mean, how many times have we wondered to ourselves “boy, how long will God allow these things to go on…”
… We have heard it said before, and the Word of God implies it… that if our nation is not judged, God will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah…
Friends, I believe our nation is in a worse state at this moment… than Sodom and Gomorrah were….
So, we wonder how God has held back his wrath for so long… we wonder why we are still around… why our nation is still standing…
And please understand… our nation may not *always* stand…
You see… God is much more concerned with our *souls* than he is our financial security, our military might, our luxurious life that we all have the good fortune to live…
…And we pray for revival… we pray for spiritual awakening in our land… that would lead our nation back to God… but if that does *not* happen…
I don’t think God would have a problem with sending judgment upon our land… to turn our hearts back to him…
He has done it with his very own chosen nation… Israel…
Just read the Old Testament…
Whatever it takes to bring repentance… God may do…
I have studied over the last few years how revival is spreading across some parts of the world…
It is spreading in places like china, North Korea and others…
revival is spreading in nations that are oppressed and under severe domination by ruthless leaders of foreign countries…
… In the foxes book of martyrs, I remember reading of an interview with a woman who had been in prison for most of her life in one of these oppressed nations… a place where prison is serious business...
She had four children who she had not seen in years….
She was in prison because of her faith in Christ…
And the interviewer asked… don’t you wish that the oppression would cease in this nation… don’t you wish that you would be released from captivity… don’t you wish that people would be free…
And she said… OF COURSE>>>> *NOT!*
* *
* …*She said, because if we were to lose the dark clouds of oppression… I am afraid we would loose our *need* for *GOD*!
Friends… that is where *our* nation is today….
We have been blessed so abundantly; we have been given so much… that we have lost our *need* for God…
We think we can… and have… done it all on our own…
I believe God would be happy to send judgment and oppression on our land… to bring souls into the kingdom of Heaven….
Because the most important thing that matters in *this* life….
Is where we are going to be when this life is over…
So… why has God not already brought judgment to our land…
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*ILL.
*Our nation started off quite differently…* *Jamestown, VA, was the first permanent settlement in the new world, & some of their religious practices were rather interesting…
For instance, they had church services for *2-hours *each and *every *day of the week except Sunday…
On Sunday, they had *5 Hour* services…* *& *everybody* had to attend…
Missing church was considered a *sin* & it was dealt with severely.
\\ \\ The penalty for missing one service was the *loss of food rations* for a whole day…
Now friends, we don’t understand what that would be like…
I could miss food rations for a few weeks and not even know it…
But the early settlers lived day to day… to miss rations for a day, could lead to death…
…A second absence resulted in a *public whipping*…
And the penalty for missing church services *3* times was to be placed in the stocks *daily* for *6 months*!
Historians tell us that research has not revealed anyone in the Jamestown Colony ever missing church 3 times.
\\ \\ *ILL.
*During the colonial days, in almost every colony,
*an adulterer *could be* publicly *disgraced* & branded *on the forehead or on the cheek*…*
* *
Things are certainly different today, aren’t they?
\\ \\ *ILL.
*In his book, "*Whatever Became of Sin*?" noted psychologist Dr. Karl Menninger wrote,
"The very word `sin,’ which seems to have disappeared (from our language), was a proud word, an ominous, *serious* word . .
.
*but the word went away*….. Why?…
Doesn’t anyone sin anymore?… Doesn’t anyone believe in sin?" \\ \\ …Now, I am sure that there are none of us who would like to return to the practice of severe punishments that we have just heard about…
but hasn’t the pendulum swung too far in the opposite direction?
We have emphasized *love* and *grace*, and *forgiveness*…
but we say little about *sin*, wrath, & punishment.
And the result is that many today view God as an affectionate old grandfather who would never hold man accountable for sin…
In fact, our attitude seems to be, "God will forgive me; *that’s His job!"….
\\ * \\ ……..*A.
*With that in mind, go with me for a few moments to the morning Jesus was crucified…
I want us look at the cross for a few moments… & listen to these words from Luke 23:27-38.
\\ *Read Luke 23:27-38 \\ * \\ *ILL.
*H.
G. Wells once wrote a story entitled,
*"The Country of the Blind*."
In this story he tells about a hidden valley shut off from the rest of the world by very high cliffs.
That valley was inhabited only by *blind *people, & no one there had *ever *been able to see.
\\ \\ One day, A lost & weary traveler stumbled into this country of the blind, & stayed with them for a while…
As he lived among them, he found himself falling in love with a beautiful blind woman, & began considering the possibility of marriage.
\\ \\ But the blind people of the community thought that this man who could see was strange…
They felt that his mind was *cluttered *&* confused, distracted *by his ability to see…
So they insisted that if he wanted to continue living among them, he would have to have his eyes put out & become blind just as they were.
\\ \\ ….And …For a while… the man thought that he would be willing to do that… But one morning he got up & saw the *beauty *of the* sunrise…*the *mist* rising from the valley ,
the *dew* glistening on the petals of the flowers…
& he realized that he could not stay in the country of the blind*… *So he climbed out of the valley & returned to the world of sight.
\\ \\ ….My friends… when *Jesus* came into *our* world He saw things that the *world* was unable to see.
He thought thoughts that the *world* had never thought.
He did deeds that the rest of the world could not do.
And */our/ world*… could not stand that.
Our world tried to pull Him down to its own level…
But Jesus refused to be a part of the darkness of this world.
\\ \\ And there… the two stories lose their analogy…
Because you see… Jesus did not run away from our darkness….
Instead, He *conquered* it.
And the place where that victory took place is a hill called Calvary, Golgotha, the "place of the skull," on an old rugged cross.
\\ ….
The gospel writers say that Jesus spoke 7 times while hanging on the cross…
And His first words were those that we read just a few moments ago, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."
*Transition… * Now many of us have heard & read those words many, many times before… & they are precious to us…
But I think that a lot of people misunderstand what Jesus is doing.
And it is important that we don’t misunderstand.
\\ \\ * *So* what is Jesus doing*?..
Well, the answer is obvious, "*Jesus is praying*."
But wait a minute, men don’t *pray* on crosses do they...
We pray in gardens.
We pray in church buildings & synagogues.
We pray where we can get away from the noise & confusion of the world & think clear thoughts.
But we *don’t* pray on crosses.
\\ \\ Men *curse* on crosses.
Men *scream* on crosses.
Men *cry* on crosses.
Men experience *pain* on crosses.
But you certainly don’t pray to *forgive* others on crosses.
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