Sermon Tone Analysis

There has been a rise in infectious disease.

Since the 70’s a number of infectious diseases have been found, and they’ve been found to continue growing and spreading.

SARS

MERS

Ebola

Avian Flu

Swine flu

One I’d never heard of Chikungunya

Apparently, it’s spread by mosquitos.

They are difficult diseases to fight.

They spread quickly.

And in fact they change quickly as well.

These diseases grow resistant to antibiotics and many medicines, making treatment difficult.

There are different responses to fighting these diseases.

Millions of dollars are thrown at these diseases.

Preventative measures are taken.

Education and medicine are heavily infested in to try and keep these diseases at bay.

These diseases are so prevalent and sneaky, that it’s not uncommon for those in the medical industry to not be allowed to wear jewelry to keep from these diseases sneaking under a watchband.

Gowns and masks must be worn.

And hands are frequently washed.

If only mankind had this same kind of drive to combat an even greater disease.

The greater disease is hereditary.

It’s

This greater disease is certainly a fatal disease.

It’s been found that all humans are carriers of this disease.

The greater disease is sin.

Evasiveness.

says that all have sinned.

It began in the first man, Adam.

And it’s been passed on to every person since.

And just like how the small itchy bumps of chicken pox can get passed from child to child, says of sin, “just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”

Just like the medical world that is aggressive against infectious disease, we need to be aggressive in our fight against sin.

There are 4 approaches to God and Sin that we will look at this morning.

You see them in your bulletin in the sermon outline page.

Being swallowed by the guilt of sin.

Balancing sin’s scales with good deeds.

Beyond sin and finding hope.

And Befriended by God and finding forgiveness.

To help us understand this, we have been making our way through the final chapters of Genesis.

We will cover a lot of ground today.

We’ll be in .

I’m not going to read it, you can go home and read it later if you want.

I’d recommend it.

But let me give you a quick overview of these chapters.

A 7 year famine has struck the world at this time.

Thankfully, Egypt is well prepared for this period, under Joseph’s leadership.

They had saved during 7 years of prosperity, so that they would be in a good position during a 7 year famine.

This famine has affected other nations, including Canaan, which is far too the north, which is where Jacob and his 11 sons and their families live.

Jacob sends 10 of his boys to Egypt to buy food from the Egyptians.

Once there, Joseph recognizes them, but they don’t recognize him.

He looks Egyptian.

And he walks like an Egyptian.

He’s a little rough on them, and calls them spies.

He interrogates them, and they reveal that they have another brother at home, who their father loves, Benjamin.

He then arrests Simeon, and says they will never see him again, unless they bring the youngest brother back.

They return home to their father.

A year later, they are without food, and they are sent to Egypt, this time with Benjamin.

This time after much going back and forth, Joseph reveals himself to them.

He reveals that God has sent him ahead to prepare them for this famine and save them.

And in the end, Joseph is reunited with his entire family.

I realize that’s a super fast look at 4 chapters.

I told you, you can read it, and it reads great, just like a story.

But I want to get into it, and find our approach to God and sin in it.

4 Approaches to God and Sin

The first approach is Being swallowed by the guilt of sin.

One of my favorite Shakespeare plays is Macbeth.

In the play, Lady Macbeth, the wife of Macbeth, together with her husband, plots the death of the king.

Her plan is to kill the king so she and her husband can become king and queen.

She carefully, drugs the king’s attendants.

And gives her husband a knife to kill the king with.

After he’s killed, the blade of the knife, fresh with the kings blood on it, is wiped onto the kings attendants, who have been sleeping because they are drugged.

They are then framed for his murder, and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become king and queen.

Only after all of this, Lady Macbeth can’t shake the crime from her conscience.

She keeps thinking of the blood on her hands.

She washes and washes her hands, but keeps thinking she sees the king’s blood on them, when in reality it’s the sin that’s on her hands.

Overcome with guilt that can’t be removed, she says, "Oh life!

Disease hath spread to my whole self.

My arms, my legs, my hands.

They wreak of blood!

Oh life!

Be gone you spots!

Oh spots be gone!

The spots remain, the blood remains on me.

My skin hath worn away.

For I cannot stop itching at these damned spots.”

My arms, my legs, my hands.

They wreak of blood!

Oh life!

Be gone you spots!

Oh spots be gone!

The spots remain, the blood remains on me.

My skin hath worn away.

For I cannot stop itching at these damned spots.”

Oh life!

Be gone you spots!

Oh spots be gone!

The spots remain, the blood remains on me.

My skin hath worn away.

For I cannot stop itching at these damned spots.”

The spots are what she thinks is the king’s blood.