Sermon Tone Analysis

I find the old saying, “seeing is believing,” a bit of a lie.

There are plenty of people who would say I don’t believe in the Bible because well I have never seen a miracle or I would have to see Jesus or I need to see God to believe in Him.

If He were real He would show me a sign.

Those same people would say oh but aliens they are real there has to be something out there.

People believe what they want to believe whether they see or not.

I have some news for you though, even if God were to walk with people today, and talk to them today and if Jesus were to talk to you today and tell you point blank what to do you might still not listen to Him.

You would still disobey, I know you would because we all do.

We don’t need to see God to believe He exists and we don’t need to see Jesus to know He is God and we don’t need to

God Demonstrates Grace to a Disobedient People

We have found that God’s character never changes, He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

God’s character being unchangeable means He has always been a God of Grace.

This has been demonstrated by God through out all of history.

God was gracious toward Adam and Eve even after they sinned and deserved to be whipped off the face of the earth.

He was gracious with mankind even though He flooded the earth He delivered Noah from the flood.

We saw last week how God was gracious with the nation of Israel even though they didn’t deserve to be delivered from the nation of Egypt but because God had made a promise with Himself He delivered them from bondage and then put up with them in the wilderness until God brought about His promise which was to bring a Savior to the nation who is Christ Jesus.

By Grace He Sent a Message

What is this message, the message is one that brings eternal life and it is a message that involves believing more then seeing.

Jesus’ teachings were hard for people to listen to and to follow and only a few understood what Jesus was offering them.

Look at what Peter says in John’s gospel:

His disciples were finding it hared to follow Jesus, because of His teachings concerning the I am statements and that He and the Father are One.

These were difficult for them to believe, so they turned and walked away from Him. Jesus then turns to the twelve.

After Jesus’ death we find one who had an issue with believing and trusting that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Here is how he finally believed int he message God provided.

John 20:24-29:

By God’s grace God has sent us the message of Salvation, the message of eternal life.

This message took on flesh and walked among the people and the people still refused to believe.

This message was spelled out for them in Scripture too and they still refused to believe.

Still by God’s Grace Jesus was Rejected.

By Grace He was Rejected

Grace is a characteristic of God that I believe we take just as lightly as we do His mercy and His Wrath.

This is indicative of a sinful humanity and we have our ancestors to thank for this.

Adam and Eve.

In their innocents they took God’s wrath lightly.

God told Adam that if he eats of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that he would surly die.

Maybe it was the fact that Adam didn’t see or experience God’s wrath and that is why he disobeyed, maybe he just trusted so much in God’s goodness that he disobeyed or maybe he had no idea what death was and he didn’t know the severity of his disobedience.

Either way Adam’s sin, was not eating the fruit, it was that he didn’t obey God.

Being disobedient is rejecting God’s truth and falling for the lie of the world.

When our children don’t listen to us, they are rejecting us and rejecting what we ask, because they think they know better.

Some children obey out of fear of the wrath of their parents.

Some children obey out of fear because they know the wrath they can incur but they would rather lean on the grace instead.

Adam and Eve, didn’t see the wrath but when they did see the wrath they also felt the grace that comes from a God who is compassionate and merciful.

Rejecting God comes with consequence, enduring His wrath, but even in rejecting God, His character is so Holy, righteous and Pure that He will still bestow grace, unimaginable grace on a people who reject Him.

This is not the first time God has been rejected.

God provides truth and the means of life and people disobey what He tells them.

Each time people disobey God it is rejecting God and His truth.

Adam and Eve did this.

This is he equivalent of reading the Word of God and reading what He asks of you and then walking away and ignoring it.

This is the purpose of God’s Word.

The Scripture is an unfolding of God’s gracious plan to bring about glory to Himself by Saving mankind from sin through the blood of His Son, who is God who has died for all mankind.

He was promised in the Scripture from Genesis 3:15 and the unfolding of this plan continued until Jesus was born in the flesh and walked the earth.

Those who knew what the Scripture taught refused to believe the Scripture pointed to Jesus.

The refused to see that what Jesus was teaching was true because what Jesus taught exalted God and God alone.

The religious leaders of the day thought they were exalting God but in reality they were exalting themselves.

What became the benchmark for righteousness was what they taught and it was all external.

Jesus taught that it had everything to do with the heart, and you will be judged by your heart and by what you believe.

These people judged Jesus and even though they could find nothing in God’s law to put Him to death they lied, bringing the law to put Him to death.

There rejection of Jesus was all by God’s grace so they and we could be saved from the bondage that holds us to that rejection, the bondage of sin.

Scripture points to Jesus.

When John the baptist was in prison he sent his own disciples to ask Jesus if he was the expected One.

Luke writes this;

The blind receiving sight is a quote from Isaiah 35:5

The gospel being preached is from Isaiah 61:1

These are Scripture they would have heard and would have been taught and they would have been all the signs they needed to believe, this is all Jesus wanted the disciples of John to say to him.

The proof is there.

Those who called for Jesus’ crucifixion ignored the truth.

They ignored what they read every week in the Synagogues.

Instead they called for the death of the righteous and Holy God.

By their own desire for power and to further their own lives, they took the life of the One who gives life.

Don’t get me wrong this was always God’s plan and they should have known this.

Isaiah 53 is the most powerful text there that points to this moment.

By Grace There is Faith

If Jesus had died and been buried then we would have no comfort at all.

He would only be a martyr, a zealot or a crazy man.

No he was also raised from the dead.