Sermon Tone Analysis

·         Tell the ‘hold my mule’ story.

I first heard this from Brother Gean Jones (tell it)

 

·         For this Sunday and the next the Sermon Subject or (Topic) is; “As God’s elect, praise is what we do!”

·         Open your Bibles to 1 Peter 1:3-5 and stand with me.

·         This is what the Lord says

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*1 Peter 1:3-5 \\ **3 *Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, *4 *to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, *5 *who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

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·         Praise is what we do

·         After the salutation in verses 1 and 2, Peter in these verses gives 11 reasons for ‘those who are elect exiles of the dispersion’, to praise God

·         Listen again at how Peter arrive at this moment

 

*1 Peter 1:1-3 \\ **1 *Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, *2 *according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

*3 *Blessed be the God! \\ \\

·         Stop here at these words “Blessed be the God” for at this point Peter is on very familiar ground

·         You who are younger would understand it better if I said; Peter is going ‘old school’

·         And that is not very far from the truth because Peter’s words ‘Blessed be the God’ is appropriate here

·         When you grasps the realization that you are the elect from the triune God and each person of the Holy Trinity was, is and shall be involved in your election, all that is left to do is to praise God

·         Now listen to this, you may know this but it was a blessing to me this week

·         When you look at the Greek word for bless in this context you get a word that comes into the English language as ‘eulogy’ meaning to praise highly

·         In my background you give a eulogy or eulogies someone at their funeral when they have died or passed on.

·         Here Peter says to those who are the elect to eulogies God for the life He has passed on to them

·         Praise Him from whom all blessings flow

·         These words, this eulogy is in fact ‘old school’ listen

 

 

*Genesis 9:26 \\ **26 *He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.

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*Genesis 14:20 \\ **20 *and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

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*Genesis 24:27 \\ **27 *and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master.

As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”

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*Exodus 18:10 \\ **10 *Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

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*Ruth 4:14 \\ **14 *Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!

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*1 Samuel 25:32 \\ **32 *And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!

ESV \\ *1 Kings 1:48 \\ 48 *And the king also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has granted someone to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.’

” ESV \\ *1 Kings 8:15 \\ 15 *And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, ESV

*1 Kings 8:56 \\ **56 *“Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised.

Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.

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*Psalm 18:46 \\ **46 *The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation— ESV

*Psalm 28:6 \\ **6 *Blessed be the Lord! for he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

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*Psalm 31:21 \\ **21 *Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city.

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*Psalm 41:13 \\ **13 *Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!

Amen and Amen.

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*Psalm 66:20 \\ **20 *Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me! ESV

*Daniel 3:28 \\ **28 *Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

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·         We see God eulogized or praised throughout the Old Testament Scriptures because of who He is and what He does

·         The issue is not whether or not God deserves praise because we know that He deserves all praise

·         However I want you to understand better why it is proper for the choir to sing praise is what I do and thus the reason as God’s elect, praise is what you should do also

·         I see the first reason in the remainder of this sentence for the word ‘and’ means continue because there is more; “and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”  Together it says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

·         The Old Testament, they got the God part down correctly but this last part was foreign to them and familiar to us

·         And it is so familiar that we many time missed that this is a reason to praise God

·         It was not until our pastor’s meeting yesterday that this became clearer to me

·         Most of what I read to you from the Old Testament deals with the function of God (delivered, not forsaken, granted, sent) functions

·         But here Peter talks about the relationship the elect have with God, only the elect can relate to God as the Father of Jesus Christ

·         Hallelujah! Listen to how Jesus say it and He doesn’t say God but use the relation Father

 

·         *John 14:6-7 \\ 6 *Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

*7 *If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.

From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

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·         Yes the Old Testament saints could come before God, the Old Testament Priest went before God, but no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ!

·         Because the elect has a relationship with Jesus, our access to God is intimate our praise of Him is intimate we praise Him as almighty God but also as Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and thus Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be your name

·         Praise is what we do!

 

·         Reason number 2 for giving praise is that God has caused us to be born again based on His great mercy

 

·         We deserve judgment and wrath from God but God is a kind, compassionate and forbearing God to His elect.

In other words His mercy is great and awesome.

Listen

 

·         *Ephesians 2:4-5 \\ 4 *But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, *5 *even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ESV \\ \\

·         He caused us to be born again God did this wonderful thing to me and I could not make myself born or choose to birth myself

·         *John 3:1-8 \\ 1 *Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

*2 *This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

*3 *Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” *4 *Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

*5 *Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

*6 *That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

*7 *Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

*8 *The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

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·         It is always good to stop every now and then and realize that by the grace of God, I am what I am, I am who I am, I have a new relationship to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

·         Is that worth praising Him?  Can you say ‘hold my mule’?

·         And this leads us into the third reason for praise one is born to live and thus being Born again to a living hope – this new life is one of hope of amazing expectations and anticipations of a favorable future under God’s direction.

·         I agree with Edward Mote and William Bradbury and I join my voice with their and say

·         “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”

·         When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; in every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil

·         His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood; when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay

·         When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne

·         On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand

·         Talking about a living hope and it’s about the relationship

·         Praise is what I do!

·         The last reason that I will look at today, for giving praise, is the forth one and it gives the means of this living hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

·         Allow me to say it this way; Because He lives, I can face tomorrow , because He lives all fear is gone and life is worth living because He lives.

·         As we conclude here and transition into the Lord’s Supper, I want you to see some things that also blessed me this week.