Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
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Anger
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Analytical
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Conscientiousness
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Agreeableness
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Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
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*TITLE:  * The Little Lie:  You Shall Not Die    *SCRIPTURE: *   Matthew 4:1-11
 
I remember a sermon that I heard when I was at Duke.
The preacher was talking about the temptation of Adam and Eve.
He said something that has stuck with me.
He said:
* *
*God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the center of the garden.
*
*He warned them that, if they ate of it, they would surely die.
*
*Then Satan came along and told them that, if they ate of that tree, *
*they would /not/ surely die.*
Now comes the part that I especially remembered.
The preacher continued:
 
*Note that Satan changed just one word.
*
*God said, "You will surely die."
*
*Satan said, "You will /not/ surely die."
*
*The difference was only one word, and not a very big word.
*
*God said, "You /will /surely die."
*
*Satan said, "You will /not/ surely die."
*
*Satan's lie was so simple -- so believable *
*-- that Adam and Eve accepted it*
*-- and that started all our troubles.*
The preacher went on to say:
 
*Most lies are like that.
They are /almost true/.
*
*They would be true except for one or two words.
*
*Watch out for those one or two words!
*
*They are the world's most dangerous words!*
I have never forgotten that!
The most dangerous lie doesn't sound like a lie.
The most dangerous lie sounds like the truth.
Can you think of a lie that sounds like the truth?
How about "What she doesn't know won't hurt her!"
Those are the words that a husband uses to excuse cheating on his wife, aren't they.
Or that a wife uses to excuse cheating on her husband.
But, of course, what she doesn't know /does/ hurt her.
It changes the husband's heart.
It begins to erode the marriage.
What started out almost innocently begins its work.
The tiny hole in the dam widens until the floodwaters engulf us.
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her!"  A simple lie!
It sounds like the truth!
That is what makes it dangerous!
Or how about "Everyone's doing it!"
The implication is that "everyone" can't be wrong.
It must be all right if "everyone" is doing it.
You parents hear that one, don't you!  "Ah, Mom, everyone is going!
I've got to go!
I can't be the only one to stay home!
It will ruin my life!
Ah, Mom!"
 
But, of course, "everyone" isn't going!
"Everyone" might be one or two kids.
And even if "everyone" is going, that doesn't make it right!
"Everyone's doing  it!"
That sounds like the truth!
That is what makes it dangerous.
Or how about "He deserves it!
Look what he did to me!"
That is the lie Hitler used to persuade the German people to break windows in Jewish stores, to make Jewish people wear Stars of David, to steal Jewish property, and finally to implement the Holocaust.
"They deserve it!
Look what they did to us!"
It sounded like the truth to a whole nation.
But it was a lie.
That little lie -- and a few more like it -- caused the deaths of six million Jews -- and many more millions as well.
We can always excuse horrible behavior on our part when we say, "He deserves it!"
Or how about "I deserve it!"
In a television interview, an accountant said that most embezzlers are long-time, trusted employees who have told themselves, "I deserve it!
Look how hard I have worked!
Look how much money they are making!
They couldn't have done it without me!
They will never miss a few hundred dollars!
I deserve it!"
That sounds like the truth!
That is what makes it dangerous!
Walter Farrell put it this way.
He said:
 
The Devil does not shock a saint into alertness
by suggesting whopping crimes.
He starts off with little, almost inoffensive things
to which even the heart of a saint
would make only mild protests.
The devil doesn't trip us up by tempting us to commit a great sin for a great reward.
He trips us up by tempting us to take a first small step -- a small step that we /deserve/ to take.
Some years ago, C.S. Lewis wrote the /Screwtape Letters/, a short, humorous book about temptation.
The book is a series of letters from an experienced devil, Screwtape, to his less experienced nephew, Wormwood.
Wormwood is trying to get a young man to commit murder, but is having no success.
Screwtape writes him a letter, advising him to try another tack.
He advises:
 
Murder is no better than cards
if cards can do the trick.
Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one --
the gentle slope, soft underfoot,
without sudden turnings,
without milestones,
without signposts.
Our Gospel reading today tells about the temptation of Jesus.
Satan tempted Jesus with three /innocent/ temptations.
He didn't try to tempt Jesus to do something terrible.
He tempted Jesus to make small compromises for good reasons.
He tried to get Jesus to take a small step into the edge of the quicksand -- and he pictured rewards on the other side.
He didn't promise Jesus money or fame.
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