Sermon Tone Analysis

Folks the Christian life is filled with ups and downs.

There are moments when you have to go through as Christians in order to become better Christians.

There are things that we will go through an we will have no explanation on why we're going through them yet God puts us through them for a purpose .

We are put into the fire so we can be refined.

So everything that is him pure will leave us and all that is left is purity.

And these life lessons we never appreciate in the mist of them.

It is always looking back and understanding the outcome of it is when we begin to see it.

Some of the greatest writing I have read on depression was written by the experience of the prince of preachers.

Charles Spurgeon.

A Baptist preacher in the 1800’s in London, This man, still to this day, is considered one of the most dynamic inspirational preachers to ever live.

I have never met a pastor who did not have Charles Spurgeon in his library.

I have also never met a pastor who has said I do not like Charles Spurgeon.

Does not mean that there are not out there but I think it's fairly rare.

The most critical people of Baptist are conservative presbyterians and even many of them will refuse to say a bad thing about Charles Spurgeon.

He was reformed in his theology and when he spoke the masses listened .

Spurgin was a country boy who decided he wanted to spend his life proclaiming god's glory.

And the more he preached the more people gathered.

The local newspaper would feature cartoons making fun of him and his popularity .

These cartoons made him insecure about his physical appearance as they were deliberately trying to make fun.

And then there was this one Sunday where he was preaching and the room was filled.

The building was so packed that the stairway was crowded with people trying to listen to what he was saying.

spurgeon and his ministry team already in the process of building a bigger spot, but that takes time.

And as he was preaching a fire broke out.

I don't know if it was ever stated how fire broke out come up at a fire did break out.

And here is this crowded building where people are trying to escape.

Charles Spurgeon was able to get out but there were a few who died in that fire .

Charles went into a state of depression, it is understandable.

He blamed himself and to be honest I don't know why pastor who wouldn't.

It's what pastors do.

His depression was heavy.

And he wrote about it.

His writings were not how to escape depression as his intentions in his writings were not leading others out of depression.

But his writing is display a heart that is saturated in depression and the focus is still on God.

Which is why it is some of the best writings on depression that I have ever read .

Because it is a depressed heart reaching out to God .

There were many things about God that brought comfort to Charles Spurgeon.

but what he always fell back on was the sovereignty of God.

Now before we can dive in it is important for us to remember the full context.

These last few sermons have been heavily focused on the sovereignty of God , and that is not going to change.

But it is easy to lose sight of goal of pauls message when we have spent so much time on one subject.

Do not forget the flow of the conversation.

This began with Paul stating that he was grieved for his fellow kinsman and that he wishes he can be a cursed for them.

That if it were some way possible that he can be taken an all of them be spared he would do it .

Further we have to understand that Paul entire point on us being the clay , the thing molded and God being the molder, that was not a message directed towards the gentiles.

Of course we learn from it and we benefit off that teaching, but that is a statement directed towards the Jewish believers.

Why?

Because gentiles we're being welcomed into the fold.

And this was a great stumbling block for many Jewish people.

What we're reading was a moment in history for the gentiles we're outnumbering the Jews in god's plan of redemption.

And Paul's entire point in this section is that God has the free will to do this if he so pleases.

And if God wants to draw gentiles to himself he has the freedom and the right to .

So that is the context of what we are going to be looking at now.

Roma

The quote we have here is from .

but it is not a perfected quote.

Meaning that the quote is not taken directly from the Hebrew form nor is it taking from the Greek Septuagint.

which is what the Greek speaking Jews would have used during Paul's day.

Some people find this to be a discrepancy and by the way this is true of all the quotes we see in this section.

That are reports that we see in this section are not perfect quotes .

And a lot of people see this as an issue.

Some would call this laziness on Paul part.

and it is for that very reason we should conclude that Paul is proclaiming his own opinion here and not god's opinion or truth in this section.

Others would call this a contradiction and they would use that as an opportunity to attack what we call the inerrancy of scripture .

And then there are some who will say that the scripture that Paul is quoting is not in the context of what he is talking about.

So there are a few things that need to be said about this .

I will begin with context.

To those who are claiming that Paul is not staying in context of what he's trying to teach or the Old Testament scriptures he is quoting is not the context of what he is teaching are a little premature in their accusation .

Jesus reminded us that the scriptures pointed to him and after his resurrection he took the time to 2 of his disciples to show them that.

So let me know that there are much sections of the Old Testament that have a double meaning.

I like to call it the echo .

And I have used that phrase before in echo.

So for example , the exodus account.

Jewish people are in captivity and here comes a man who leads them out of captivity.

Who frees the people of God as a representative of God.

Judgment came upon the land of Egypt know only those who are covered by the blood of the lamb were spared .

The Jewish people were freed and while they were trying to escape the land the oppressor was still coming after them.

God destroys the oppressors and god's people are going through the wilderness until the enter the promised land .

Now folks, that is a historical event that is a foreshadow, that is an echo of Jesus Christ.

It is in a historical event that points to the reality we live in now.

And that is true of what is taking place in Hosea that Paul is now alluding to .

It is a historical event, that is paganism has crept into Judaism.

The people of Israel were divided and they gave in into the ways of the world and God is calling back people that he said do not belong to him anymore to himself.

It is in a historical event to explain the present reality .

Now once we can accept that there are some historical situations that are meant as a prophetic message and Paul is revealing to us that prophetic message , once we accept that the other arguments that I mentioned it kind of disappear.

Ultimately what this comes down to, is that Paul is a vessel used by the Holy Spirit to write his word.

And what the Holy Spirit has to tell us in Hosea or in Romans it's barely update him on how he wants to communicate that to us .

And because it is his word he has the right is stated however he wants.

More important, he has the right to reveal to us the purpose of what was once written.

And the Holy Spirit is now taking his Liberty to explain the purpose of the historical event.

So verse 25 is quoting and now let's look at verse 26

This is a quote, and not a perfect quote from the hebrew, from .So while this section of Hosea has its own context, all under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is letting reader know that this was also in echo, that this was a foreshadow comment that this was a prophecy of the gentiles.

So who is Paul talking about when he is quoting Hosea?

He's talking about you, he is talking about me.

The gentiles were not the covenant people.

They were not the people of God.

And the prophetic message in the Old Testament is that God Will call those who were not his people to become his people.

Do not overlook that statement , who is the one doing the calling?

God.

It is God who reaches out to the gentiles who would not his people and he reaches out to them so that they will be his people.

That is not to be understood as every gentile who is ever lived.