Sermon Tone Analysis

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SECTION ONE: WHAT SHALL WE SAY?

Calvin Coolidge

One of the presidents I would love to meet was the 30th president, Calvin Coolidge.

He was a man of few words.

Someone once said, “I’ll bet I can make you speak more than two words,” to which Coolidge replied, “you lose.”

He once said, “I have never been hurt by what I have not said” and “no one ever listened themselves out of a job.”

He was known for answering questions with questions.

Once he was asked why he answers questions with questions to which he replied, “why not?”

Paul answers Questions with Questions

Paul was not a man of few words, but at the end of , after he has taken us to the heights of our benefits in Christ, he answers life’s deepest questions with more questions.

Unanswerable Questions.

Paul dares the Romans and now dares us to ask the tough, deep, questions....he asks an overarching one in verse 31, and then five more...

Paul dares the Romans and now dares us to ask the tough, deep, questions....he asks an overarching one in verse 31, and then five more...

.

The Great 8.

The greatest chapter in all the Bible because Paul takes us to the heights of the benefits we have of being in Christ Jesus. is all about what God does for us, not what we do.

It is God who justifies, not us, it is God who adopts, not us, it is God who raises us from death to life, not us.

And Paul

Many of those in the Roman church faced danger every day just for being a Christian.

Paul is giving them high octane Gospel fuel that will empower them to face anything in life.

To be heroes.

Paul is writing this book as a letter to the Roman Church, as a sermon to people he will never meet.

Paul writes to these Christians in Rome and he says they are famous in all the world for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He isn’t writing to debate theology but to give them high octane gospel fuel that will empower them to heroically face anything in life.

He is writing as a pastor concerned for people whose lives would be in danger simply for being a Christian.

Paul dares the Romans and now dares us to ask the tough, deep, questions....he asks an overarching one in verse 31, and then five more...

Paul is writing this book as a letter to the Roman Church, as a sermon to people he will never meet.

Paul writes to these Christians in Rome and he says they are famous in all the world for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He isn’t writing to debate theology but to give them high octane gospel fuel that will empower them to heroically face anything in life.

He is writing as a pastor concerned for people whose lives would be in danger simply for being a Christian.

And so after Paul has taken us through

Yes, Paul wants to shape how they think about God theologically, but he wants their theology to transform how they live.

Paul knows that when he makes big statements like , all things work together for the good of those who love God and those who are called according to his purpose, that there will be questions.

So Paul dares the Romans and now dares us to ask the tough, deep, questions....he asks an overarching one in verse 31, and then five more...

Yes, Paul wants to shape how they think about God theologically, but he wants their theology to transform how they live.

Paul knows that when he makes big statements like , all things work together for the good of those who love God and those who are called according to his purpose, that there will be questions.

So Paul dares the Romans and now dares us to ask the tough, deep, questions....he asks an overarching one, and then five more...

And Paul in shows us that salvation is all of God. , salvation belongs to our God.

, he is the God of our salvation.

That there is no condemnation for those who are in union with Christ Jesus.

For those who are bonded to him.

That we have been justified, meaning we are pronounced not guilty.

That we are sons and daughters adopted into the family of God.

That everything Jesus gets, we get.

That it is God who saves, not us.

It is God who justifies.

not us.

It is God who adopts, not us.

It is God who raises us from death to life.

Paul says in we were dead in our sins.

Paul is writing this book as a letter, as a sermon to people he will never meet.

To Christians in Rome who Paul says are famous in all the world for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He isn’t writing to debate theology.

He is writing as a pastor concerned for the people.

Yes, Paul wants to shape how they think about God theologically, but he wants their theology to transform how they live.

Paul is writing this book as a letter, as a sermon to people he will never meet.

To Christians in Rome who Paul says are famous in all the world for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He isn’t writing to debate theology.

He is writing as a pastor concerned for the people.

Yes, Paul wants to shape how they think about God theologically, but he wants their theology to transform how they live.

“What then shall we say to these things?”

-: 31a

Bring Hard Questions

In other words, so what?

What practically will change in our lives as a result of ?

And Paul’s heart erupts.

Paul is DARING us to ask hard questions…Paul is daring us to put the Gospel to the test.

Paul has said earlier that he is not ashamed of the Gospel…that he wants to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.

So hard questions can be asked.

Paul is challenging us to bring our darkest failures, to bring our greatest brokenness, to bring our shame, our losses, our grief, the times we have cried out in the middle of the night wondering if God is there, the times that we have wailed out loud in broad daylight because someone we love has died, Paul is daring us to bring the most crushing news we have received, or the times we have been attacked by those we thought were friends.

Paul is saying, bring it all to the table.

Paul asks, how will you challenge everything I have just said?

Paul could have easily ended these thoughts at verse 30 or before, but instead he asks a big question....what then shall we say to these things.

In other words, so what?

What practically will change in our lives as a result of ?

And Paul’s heart erupts.

Paul is DARING us to ask hard questions…Paul is daring us to put the Gospel to the test.

Paul has said earlier that he is not ashamed of the Gospel…that he wants to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.

So hard questions can be asked.

Paul is challenging us to bring our darkest failures, to bring our greatest brokenness, to bring our shame, our losses, our grief, the times we have cried out in the middle of the night wondering if God is there, the times that we have wailed out loud in broad daylight because someone we love has died, Paul is daring us to bring the most crushing news we have received, or the times we have been attacked by those we thought were friends.

Paul is saying, bring it all to the table.

Paul asks, how will you challenge everything I have just said?

And once again, Paul could have left us hanging with the first part of verse 31 and that would have been a fitting end to chapter 8, but instead he asks five unanswerable questions.

And these are five unanswerable questions that we need to ask ourselves all week long.

SECTION TWO: IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US

Paul answers his question, what shall we say to all these glorious things in , with an unanswerable question...

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” -: 31b

Not: Who is Against You? Endless Answers

He foreknows us.

This doesn’t mean that God looks down the corrider of time and sees who will and won’t love him.

Foreknow means to forelove.

It means that all the way back before you were created, God set his heart on you.

That God loved you before the foundation of the earth.

That you were pre-destined…and we get hung up on this word, but look at what we are predestined---pre determined---our destination is determined—to be confored to the image of Jesus.

That part should be the controversy because we should spend the rest of our lives studying what it means to be conformed to the image of Jesus instead of studying what the differences are between demoninations and splitting theological hairs and arguing to argue over deep deep doctrinal truths.

That God is sovereign.

That God chooses.

That God predestines.

But at the same time man is responsible.

Man is responsible for his decisions.