Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem.
Large crowds of people have been following Jesus everywhere he goes.
They bring to him the sick and the afflicted so that he might touch them and heal them.
He does so gladly and dozens if not hundreds of people are made whole and well.
At one point in the journey, Jesus sits down by the side of the road to rest.
As he sits there, mothers begin bringing their babies and young children to him that he might lay his hands on them and bless them.
Suddenly, a young man who has been part of the throng following Jesus, bursts through the crowd and kneels at the feet of Jesus.
"Good master," he says, "What good thing should I do that I may have eternal life?"
Jesus tells him to "keep the commandment?"
This young man was perceptive and immediately asks, "Which one?"
You see, other standards of righteousness were being promoted by the Pharisees, who had added to the Laws of Moses far beyond God's intention.
The young man was in affect asking Jesus if he had to keep all the traditions of the Pharisees.
Jesus points him to the decalogue that is the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament.
The young man's response is that he has strictly kept all of the Ten Commandments of God.
But he is still anxious that his good works will be inadequate for inheriting eternal life and so he asks, "What am I lacking?"
He does not like what he hears.
Jesus tells him, "Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me," (Matthew 19:21, NIV)
What is the rich, young ruler's response to this invitation?
“But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
(Matthew 19:22, NKJV)
Here was an individual who was truly seeking eternal life.
In essence he is asking Jesus, "What must I do to go to heaven?"
It was a good question then, and it's still a good question.
Jesus told him and he didn't like the answer.
In this young man's case, wealth and material possessions had too tight a grip upon his soul, and stood in the way of his eternal life.
Many things can become road-blocks to following Jesus: Ambition, self-indulgence, immoral pleasure, greed – the list could go on and on.
He could have been saved, yet he chose to remain outside of the Kingdom of God.
He chose to stay lost.
As far as we know, this young man never repented, never returned to Jesus, never laid aside the stumbling block that was between him and eternal life.
This morning, I want to play something of the Devil's advocate.
I want to tell you how you too, can stay lost.
For those of you here this morning who have never trusted in Jesus, I want to share with you some excellent ways of how to stay lost.
!
I. IN ORDER TO STAY LOST YOU MUST REMAIN UNREPENTANT
1. never, ever tell God you're sorry for anything
2. never, ever ask God to forgive you of your sins
A. TO REMAIN UNREPENTANT, IGNORE GOD'S PREACHERS
1. what do preachers know anyway?
a. after all, we all know that preachers are in the ministry for easy money or
because they can't do anything else
2. when the preacher preaches on sin and hell ignore what he says – it's all hyperbole
anyway
a. use the time to catch up on your sleep
3. when the preacher visits, pretend you're too busy to listen to what he has to say
a. never, never turn off the television when he talks to you about your eternal soul
4. when the preacher invites you to ask Jesus into your heart, tell him that "today is
not right," and that "you'll do it at a more convenient time"
B. TO REMAIN UNREPENTANT, IGNORE GOD'S WORD
1. do not, I repeat, do not read the Bible
a. the Bible is so out of date, anyway
b. it's full of stories about a bunch of dead guys who lived a long time ago and
probably doesn't have much relevance to your life anyway
2. and if you do read the Bible, be sure to ignore what it says – specially about sin, and
judgment, and righteousness
3. when you read about heaven, assume you're going since you're such a good person
anyway
4. when you read about hell, assume it's a myth and that God loves anyone way too
much to let them go to such an awful place
C. TO REMAIN UNREPENTANT, HARDEN YOUR HEART AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. one of these days, if you haven't already, you're going to feel the tug of the Holy Spirit
on the strings of your heart
a. when you do, ignore it, shut it out, go on your way
b.
it's probably only indigestion anyway!
1) be like Pharaoh in the Old Testament
(a) whenever God speaks to you, close your ears and get mad
2) or belike the thief on the cross next to Jesus
(a) remember, there was another thief besides the one who asked Jesus for
forgiveness
(b) the other thief spit and cursed and refused to accept Jesus
2. when the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin, reason it away
a. tell yourself, "I'm just as good as that Baptist deacon who lives next door to me.
In
fact, I’m better ‘cause I don’t drink Budweiser."
b. the Bible says in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
NIV
1) "the wages of sin is death," but hey, that's all right, everybody has got to die of
something, right?
3. want to stay lost?
a. then just hang on to those sins and refuse to repent
ILLUS.
Do you know how they catch monkeys in Africa?
They drill holes in coconuts
just large enough for a monkey to put his hand in, but when he closes his fist, the hole is too small to pull his paw out.
They fill the coconuts with tasty food and wait for the monkey to come and take it.
The monkey puts his hand in the hole.
The trappers come out.
The monkey seeks to flee, but he cannot.
His hand is full of food which he is too greedy to turn loose of.
He is trapped!
But he has his handful of food!
b. sin is a trap, but sin is so much fun – so tasty!
4. to stay lost, just sins, sin, sin and never repent
II.
IN ORDER TO STAY LOST, YOU MUST KEEP YOURSELF ABSORBED IN DAILY
BUSINESS
"But they all alike began to make excuses.
The first said, 'I have just bought
a field, and I must go and see it.
Please excuse me.' "Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out.
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