Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.09UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.08UNLIKELY
Joy
0.62LIKELY
Sadness
0.47UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.66LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.03UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.93LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.64LIKELY
Extraversion
0.2UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.65LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.66LIKELY

Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Sometimes children’s songs have really good theology.
One that comes to mind in regards for our passage today is the song titled FATHER ABRAHAM.
How many of you remember that song?
Why don’t we stand and sing it together:
Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham; I am one of them and so are you, so let’s all praise the Lord!
The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, was contending against a group of men who were referred to as Judaizers.
These people believed that Paul was not properly representing the fullness of the gospel.
Yes, salvation came by faith in Jesus as the Messiah, but in order to be part of the covenant community Gentiles needed to be circumcized — they needed to become Jewish converts.
Philip Ryken, in his commentary on Galatians postulated that their verson of the song we just sang would go like this:
Many Son’
Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham; I am one of them, but you are not, so let’s all get together for a little procedure we like to call circumcision!
Snip, snip!
In last weeks passage we saw that Paul appealed to the experience of the Galatian believers in regards to their justification.
“Did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
In this weeks passage, , Paul refers to the example of Abraham as he argues against the direction in which the Galatian believers were heading.
As we look at this passage we will look at the faith of Abraham, the sons of Abraham, the eternal plan of God, and Abraham — the believer.
Let’s read our passage together.
THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM (vs. 6)
A. FAITH IN THE PROMISE
John Calvin noted: “Faith does not mean any kind of conviction which men may have of the truth of God; for though Cain had a hundred times exercised faith in God when denouncing punishment against him, this had nothing to do with obtaining righteousness.
Abraham was justified by believing, because, when he received from God a promise of fatherly kindness, he embraced it as certain.”
B. IMPUTATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
In theology we often use very big words.
One of these words is “imputation.”
It is a really important concept for us to grasp.
Imputation is tied into the substitutionary work of Christ.
In our text, the concept of imputation is found in verse 6 in the word “reckoned.”
Imputation is mentioned in the Scriptures in three distinct aspects.
First the sin of Adam was imputed to all of mankind in such a way that God considers that we each were the one who ate of the forbidden fruit.
Secondly, the sin of believers was imputed to Christ in such a way that on the cross He became sin for us.
And third, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to believers in such a way that when God considers us He sees us as completely righteous.
Abraham was not righteous in and off himself.
Abraham was an idolater — coming from Chaldea were they worshiped the celestial bodies such as the sun and the moon.
Abraham was also a liar — frequently misleading people as to his relationship to Sarah.
Abraham was impatient with God’s plan and took for himself a second wife since Sarah was barren.
Though Abraham was not righteous in and of himself, he did fully rely on the promise of God.
And therefore he was reckoned as righteous.
THE SONS OF ABRAHAM (vs.
7)
We can probably all state the name of Abraham’s two most famous sons — Ishmael who became the father of the Islamic peoples, and Isaac who became the father of two people groups as well — the Edomites and the Israelites.
But I wonder how many of you can name the rest of Abraham’s sons?
Just so you know, I had to look them up since their names are not prominently etched into my memory.
But I did at least remember that there were more than just the two.
A. THE BASIS OF FAITH
Paul’s argument, however, is that the sons of Abraham are not based on physical descent, but on the basis offaith
Look at verse 7.
A. TRUE ISRAEL
B. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SONS OF ABRAHAM
There are at least four characteristics of the sons of Abraham:
The sons of Abraham are described as those who are of faith
The sons of Abraham are those who love Christ
The sons of Abraham, like their spiritual father, are those who rejoice in Christ
The sons of Abraham are those who are known by Christ and who follow Christ
THE ETERNAL PLAN OF GOD (vs.
8)
A. SCRIPTURE PERSONIFIED
Princeton Theologian, B.B. Warfield wrote:
“God and the Scriptures are brought into such conjunction as to show that in point of directness of authority no distinction was made between them.”
B. THE GOSPEL PROCLAIMED
What was the gospel that was preached to Abraham?
Did he understand that his Seed would be the Redeemer?
Some believe that he some sort of understanding of that.
We don’t really know.
Abraham relied on the promise of God so much that when the Lord put him to the test and told to offer Isaac, the son of the promise, as an offering he readily set out to do so.
Abraham was confident that God would raise Isaac from the dead (so we are told in ).
ABRAHAM THE BELIEVER (vs.
9)
A. THE DIVINE SUMMARY
In verse 9 Paul gives what some see as a summary of verses 7-8.
Abraham was reckoned as righteous because he had faith in the promise of God.
This occured before he was given the covenant of circumcision, thus believing Gentiles are spiritual sons of Abraham.
Notice the way Paul refers the patriarch — Abraham, the believer.
That’s what you and I are if we have fully relied on the promise of God that in Christ Jesus the debt of our sins has been paid in full.
Let’s pray.
Closing Song: No. — Jesus Paid it All
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9