Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

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Tone of specific sentences

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Anger
Disgust
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Analytical
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Anger
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*The Benefits of Belief*
*/“It will change your life forever!”/*
*Text:  *            Topical sermon on belief from John’s Gospel
*Theme: *         The benefits of genuine belief
*Proposition:* Genuine belief is the prerequisite to great spiritual blessing.
*Transition:*   What are the benefits of genuine belief?
*Introduction:*
 
            Claude was clearly uncomfortable as he squirmed in his seat after our Bible study that Monday evening.
He had attended these studies for almost six months and tonight he had come face to face with the most difficult choice in his life — to believe or not to believe.
The road to this moment had not been easy for Claude.
Raised in a conservative religious home in Maine, Claude had been involved in organized religion from the very early years of his life.
He had been confirmed, served as an altar boy, and eventually ended up in a Catholic seminary preparing for the priesthood.
Then one day he walked away from the rigid, ordered, and empty life he was living.
For years Claude wandered in a spiritual wasteland.
His steps led him through the empty valleys of a failed marriage, a failed business, failed relationships,  and ultimately an empty life.
Educated, personable, witty, quick, creative, likeable, loveable, lonely, empty, frustrated, seeking, desperate, far from God, and devoid of hope— Claude was at the end of his rope.
Six months earlier he had wandered into our Bible study and quickly into our hearts.
Claude had come quite a distance in those six months and we had walked the miles with him.
We had watched Claude emerge from the valley of agnosticism and had enjoyed watching him discover and explore the beauty of the message of Christ along the way.
We had often been tickled by the sincerity of his questions during the study and we had all been profoundly moved and blessed as we watched him marvel at what he was discovering about Christ.
I will never forget the evening that Claude really understood who Christ really was and what He had come to do.
Several times he had approached the pathway that would lead him to the valley of decision but not until tonight had he wandered more than a few exploratory steps down that path.
Now, he stood at the entrance to the valley peering through the door of the sheepfold.
It was quite evident that the Great Shepherd was drawing this wondering and wandering sheep closer to the fold.
Claude’s words sum up the struggle best, “I know what I need to do, I know how to do it, and part of me wants to do it — but — I am just not sure I am ready to give up some things just yet.”
As I drove home that evening, I struggled to understand why someone who had come so far and seen so much would have such difficulty making a commitment to Christ.
Claude understood who Christ was, what He had come to do, and why He did it.
He had seen the beauty of Christ and had seen evidence of the love of Christ.
Why then  did Claude have so much trouble believing?
Particularly frustrating to me was the tension between his obvious desire for Christ and his resistance to Christ.
As I reflected on Claude’s statement I became convinced of two things.
First, the tension was due in
part to a failure on his part to understand the personal benefits of genuine belief.
Claude was in love with the person of Christ and he appreciated the work of Christ on his behalf.
However, Claude failed to realize that the personal benefits of genuine belief which would be his far outweighed any perceived sacrifice he would make.
Second, there are many “Claudes” in the world who struggle with this same tension.
It is to individuals like Claude that John’s Gospel provides a solution.
Written at the close of the first century by the last living eyewitness of the Lord’s life and ministry, this Gospel is designed to bring people to the point of genuine belief.
In approximately one hundred verses scattered throughout the twenty-one chapters that make up this account, John presents the multi-faceted concept of belief.
One particular facet of belief is particularly useful in helping people come to the point of stepping through the “door of decision” and make the commitment to genuine belief.
This facet demonstrates the personal benefits that come into a person’s life as a result of genuine belief.
John presents at least seven life changing benefits in his Gospel which are designed to help men decide to believe.
*I.
Through Genuine Belief We Are Absolved From Condemnation  (3:18; 8:24)*
 
•/I said therefore to you that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you shall die in your sins./
(8:24)
•/He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of the Father./
(3:18)
 
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