Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I have a friend whose young wife has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

They have two small children together, and they had always dreamed of raising them together and growing old together and serving in the ministry together.

But now, their dream has been interrupted by the nightmare of cancer and a near expectation of loss and grief.

Desperate to find any answer, any hope, any cure, he has committed himself to staying up late into the night to read and study so that he knows everything that there is to know about her cancer and experimental treatments and potential options.

Though he is a pastor, he can speak to you with a depth of understanding of medical terms that would impress any medical professional, and he can speak competently about treatment options that most of us don’t even know exist.

You see, for him, for his family, for his wife, this isn’t simple biology and chemistry to be learned in a classroom.

This is life and death.

This is the difference between his kids being raised by their mother or without her.

And so, as part of his vow to love her in sickness and in health, he has resolved to learn all that he can so that he can do whatever is within his power to help her.

And, I think this is a painful picture of how God intends for us to learn the gospel.

The gospel isn’t a mere subject to explore intellectually in a classroom if we have the time.

The gospel is the difference between life and death as we prepare ourselves and our spouses, our children, our friends, and our neighbors for certain judgement that is near.

As Christians, this is what we believe.

We believe that every person of every age is going to exist forever and that the difference between hell and life is the gospel, the Good News about Jesus Christ.

Yet, for most, if someone we love were to come and ask us the simple question, “What is the gospel?”

I’m not sure that most would even know where to begin.

And so, this is the question that we’ve been seeking to answer over the last few weeks.

Aaron talked with you a couple of weeks ago about God’s holiness, justice, and goodness.

Last week, John talked about the humanity’s wickedness and separation from God.

And so, this week, we will seek to converge those two realities so that we can see how the seemingly impossible takes place: Wicked man being reconciled with a holy and just God.

God’s Word

Read

“But God...”

“And you…But God...” So, we come to one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible.

Now, I want you to notice how verse 1 starts and then compare it with how verse 4 starts.

And as simple as these words are, they give us the essence of the Gospel.

Verse one starts off as ‘And you...’ And, you were dead in your trespasses.

And, you were following in the way of the devil.

And, you were a child of wrath to be cut off from all good forever.

“But God!”

But God, intervened.

But God, came down from heaven.

But God, changed your destiny.

You were dead in your trespasses, but God has made you alive in Christ!

You were following after the natural path of this world, a slave to sin and satan, but God raised you up and seated you with Christ far above ‘all rule and authority and power and dominion.’

You were to be under the relentless wrath demanded by God’s justice, but God came to you so that you could know just how relentless and immeasurable his kindness is.

This is the gospel in its simplest form.

It’s the reversal of your destiny because of the initiative and intervention of God.

‘rich in mercy....grace…kindness…great love’ The words that Paul uses in this text are crucial to our understanding of the gospel.

He says in verse 8 that our salvation is 'the gift of God.' And, he's been building up to these points by talking about God's rich mercy, great love, saving grace, and inexhaustible kindness.

Now, these are a lot of the same words that are used in the church today, all the way until we get to verses 8 through 10.

In verse 8, it says that God gave it to you as a gift, and that it's a gift of such generosity that you have no boast left.

That is, you aren't deserving of this gift.

You aren't good enough for this gift.

For any person looking in, they would be dumbstruck that God was being so merciful, so loving, so kind, so generous with someone as wretched as you.

But, it is more common today to not understand God's grace and salvation as a gift, but as an entitlement.

It is the most common belief today that if I do things a certain way and carry myself a certain way and pray a certain way that I am entitled to God's blessing in my life.

There is the apparent belief that we are, at heart, good people who are entitled to God's forgiveness and God's salvation, regardless of how we actually follow him with our lives because of our inherent goodness, because 'at heart' we're good people, no matter how we actually live or treat people or have any devotion to God himself.

And so, Paul is obliterating this entitlement mentality.

This is the gospel in its simplest form.

It’s the reversal of your destiny because of the initiative and intervention of God.

Love Expressed

You see, the Gospel is nothing more and nothing less than God's love and God's nature expressed through the redemption of wretched sinners.

That is, God's rich mercy, inexhaustible kindness, and overwhelming grace are all expressions of God's nature.

In , John says that 'God is love,' meaning that his very nature, his very essence is love.

And, the reason that God saves sinners is because He is so compelled by the love in his nature that He expresses himself by showing mercy, offering grace, and showering sinners with kindness.

You aren't entitled to it.

To believe this is an entitlement is to conceal the gospel.

This is love expressed to those who are morally bankrupt so that God might be glorified.

Paul makes this clear by contrasting our character and our entitlements with God's character and God's gifts.

You see, the Gospel is nothing more and nothing less than God's love and God's nature expressed through the redemption of wretched sinners.

That is, God's rich mercy, inexhaustible kindness, and overwhelming grace are all expressions of God's nature.

In , John says that 'God is love,' meaning that his very nature, his very essence is love.

And, the reason that God saves sinners is because He is so compelled by the love in his nature that He expresses himself by showing mercy, offering grace, and showering sinners with kindness.

You aren't entitled to it.

To believe this is an entitlement is to conceal the gospel.

This is love expressed to those who are morally bankrupt so that God might be glorified.

Paul makes this clear by contrasting our character and our entitlements with God's character and God's gifts.

APPLICATION: The gospel says that not only is God rich in mercy, but God is richer in mercy than you are rich in sin.

Not only is God great in love, but God is greater in love than you are in rebellion.

Not only is God determined for you to know his kindness, but God is more determined for you to know his kindness than you are to go your own way.

Through Christ, God's mercy swallows whole our sin, God's love crushes our rebellion, and God's determined kindness overwhelms our determination to live for ourselves.

God makes those who are dead in their trespasses alive by his mercy, his grace, and his kindness because of his great love.

You aren't to receive your entitlement, which is wrath and hell, you are, instead, to receive his immeasurable riches forever.

Brothers and sisters, do you see what a gift this is?

This is not and could not be your own doing.

You follow after your heart and your cravings, not God.

You do what is easiest and most profitable for you, not what is right.

Your good works are tainted and corrupted by your own selfishness.

God had to intervene, by his grace and his mercy, in your life so that you might have life.

APPLICATION: The gospel says that not only is God rich in mercy, but God is richer in mercy than you are rich in sin.

Not only is God great in love, but God is greater in love than you are in rebellion.

Not only is God determined for you to know his kindness, but God is more determined for you to know his kindness than you are to go your own way.

Through Christ, God's mercy swallows whole our sin, God's love crushes our rebellion, and God's determined kindness overwhelms our determination to live for ourselves.

God makes those who are dead in their trespasses alive by his mercy, his grace, and his kindness because of his great love.

You aren't to receive your entitlement, which is wrath and hell, you are, instead, to receive his immeasurable riches forever.

Brothers and sisters, do you see what a gift this is?

This is not and could not be your own doing.

You follow after your heart and your cravings, not God.

You do what is easiest and most profitable for you, not what is right.

Your good works are tainted and corrupted by your own selfishness.

God had to intervene, by his grace and his mercy, in your life so that you might have life.

Incomplete, but Already Assured

“you have been saved through faith” Now, I want you to notice the phrase ‘you have been saved.’

We see it once in verse 5 and again in verse 8. And, in verse 8, he completes the thought by saying ‘you have have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing.’

And, what’s interesting about this phrase is that the verb tense implies that something isn’t finished yet.

It’s ongoing.

That is, he’s saying that you ‘are being saved,’ or there is a time coming in which you will be ‘more fully saved.’