Sermon Tone Analysis

John 3:

Today we are going to take a look at freedom from the grave.

Starting with the fact that “you will perish.”

10 out of 10 people will die.

We will see the hope we have in Christ.

And finally death in disbelief.

You WILL Perish ()

Why will we perish?

gives us several reasons that we all fall into.

We’ve forgotten our God

The people of the OT forgot their God.

Jer.

13:25

The people of the NT forgot their God.

Friends, we’ve forgotten our God.

If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which He has inflicted upon men, He would kill Himself.

– Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre is is right.

He did kill Himself, only He did so for the sake of the men who were inflicted with sin.

Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma.

– Sam Harris

Sam is right.

Atheism is a noise and religious dogma isn’t right either.

Christ is the only answer.

We’ve followed other gods

Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o, and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.

– Penn Jillette

Penn is right.

The life he now leads is the best he’ll ever have.

I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.

– Richard Dawkins

Dawkins is right.

True understanding comes from a relationship with Christ, and Him alone.

We’ve followed other gods

It happened in the OT.

It happened in the early church.

It is happening now.

We’ve served and worshipped other gods

Deuteronomy tells us what will happen when we worship other gods.

“you shall surely perish.”

There is hope in Christ ()

“whoever believes in Him shall not perish.”

“whoever believes in Him shall not perish.”

The word here for “believe” is not the same as “I know it to be true.”

The word is the same one found in

Also in

This word carries with it the idea to believe with the extension of trust, reliance, faith, and confidence.

What does it look like to “believe” in Him?

The Apostle John told us in the first chapter of his gospel.

Jesus was sent that might have life-abundant life!

Friends, there is hope in Christ!

He came to save sinners, not to condemn the world.

The world was condemned already.

Why was it condemned already?

Listen to Charles Spurgeon on the grounds of the sinner’s faith:

There is death in disbelief ()

My dear friends, I have already said that no man will believe in Jesus, unless he feels his need of him.

But you have often heard me say, and I repeat it again, that I do not come to Christ pleading that I feel my need of him; my reason for believing in Christ, is not that I feel my need of him, but that I have a need of him.

The ground on which a man comes to Jesus, is not as a sensible sinner, but as a sinner, and nothing but a sinner.

He will not come unless he is awakened; but when he comes, he does not say, “Lord, I come to thee because I am an awakened sinner, save me.”

But he says, “Lord, I am a sinner, save me.”

Not his awakening, but his sinnership is the method and plan upon which he dares to come.

C. H. Spurgeon, “None but Jesus,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol.

7 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1861), 108.

Friends, the reason we are so grateful to Christ is not because of who He is, but what He’s done for us.

He is God despite what people might think.

Freedom from the grave is not found in the fact that He is God, but in that as God He paid for your sin debt on a Roman cross!

There’s hope in Christ!

Do you believe in such a way that you live a changed life?

Are you sharing this Good News with others?

Do you need to come to Christ by faith, repenting of your sins, and confessing Him as Savior and Lord?

As the musicians come up I’d like to close by reading this quote by Penn Jillette, a comedian, magician, and famous atheist.

At the end of the show as I’ve mentioned before, we go out and we talk to folks, you know, sign an occasional autograph and shake hands and so on.

And there was one guy waiting over to the side in what I call the “hover position”...he had been the guy who picks the joke during our psychic comedian section of the show.

So he had the props from that in his hand because we give those away, the joke book, the envelope, and the paper, and stuff...

And he walked over to me and he said, “I was here last night at the show, and I saw the show and I liked the show...” he was very complimentary about my use of language and complimentary about honesty and stuff.

He said nice stuff, no need to go into it, he said nice stuff.

And then he said, “I brought this for you,” and he handed me a Gideon pocket edition.

I thought it said from the New Testament but also, Psalms is from the New Testament right?..Little book...And he said, “I wrote in the front of it and I wanted you to have this, I’m kind of proselytizing.”

And then he said, “I’m a business man.

I’m sane, I’m not crazy.”

And he looked me right in the eye and did all of this.

And it was really wonderful.

I believe he knew that I was an atheist.

But he was not defensive.

And he looked me right in the eyes.

And he was truly complimentary,...it didn’t seem like empty flattery.

He was really kind and nice and sane and looked me in the eyes and talked to me and then gave me this Bible.

And I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize.

I don’t respect that at all.

If you believe that there is a heaven and hell and that people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that, well, it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward...How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?

How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

I mean if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn’t believe it, but that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point where I tackle you.

And this is more important than that.

And I’ve always thought that and I’ve written about that and I’ve thought of it conceptually.

This guy was a really good guy.

He was polite, and honest, and sane and he cared enough about me to proselytize and give me a Bible.

Which he had written in it a little note to me...just like, liked your show and so on.

And then like five phone numbers for him and an email address if I wanted to get in touch.

How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

Unbelief, in separating from Christ, implies judgment.