Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Over the last few decades a motto has been sold to our world and we, as humans, have bought it hook line and sinker… Don’t talk about politics and religion.

How many of you have ever heard that around the holidays whenever you’re going to gather with family, especially family that might not think the same way as you?

This was never told to me directly, but I heard this statement multiple times from others.

Let’s think about this for just a minute, though.

Positively, we understand that people might say this in order to “keep the peace” but what does failing to talk about our faith in Jesus actually do?

Many times we miss opportunities to share the Gospel and second, people might mistake our silence with our support.

As we look around at the problems that our world is facing - we realize that our world needs the Gospel desperately.

We need to be reminded of the truth that we have all sinned and that we all need Jesus Christ to save us and reconcile us to God.

There is no one too far gone for the Gospel and there is no one too good who does not need the Gospel.

What our world needs today are Christians who love others enough to speak the truth in love as Ephesians 4:15 instructs us to do! Could you imagine Peter, Paul, or James being told to not talk about what Jesus has done in their life?

If so, how do you think they would respond?

Peter would say this, because this is what he said whenever he was put on trial and told to stop preaching about Jesus

That wouldn’t fly because they knew that they were called to proclaim the Gospel to those around them because they knew that the Gospel was the only message that would truly save.

In our world today, we see so many problems due to sin and what our world needs to hear is the Gospel that Jesus Christ alone saves sinners.

As we continue looking at our mission in the coming year, we must look at God’s Word to tell us what we must do with our time, talent, and treasure.

We must be a congregation at FBC Salem that grow in our walk with Christ.

We must be a congregation of people that desire to give and support the ministry that Jesus is doing here and around the world through our church.

And we also must be a church that is willing to go and proclaim the Gospel to our neighbors and the nations.

Why must we do this?

Because you and I have been called by our God to share the best news in the universe and this news alone offers eternal hope and life in the middle of a dark and confused world.

We must be a people who commit to publicly share the Gospel.

Let’s look to God’s Word in Romans 5 to see what exactly the Gospel message is and why it must be proclaimed faithfully by God’s people.

Is this your story today?

Have you been reconciled to God through the life and death of Jesus Christ?

Have you repented of your sins and are you following Christ as Lord?

Let’s pray and ask God to guide us to respond and make much of the Gospel today.

What is the Gospel?

(3:21-26)

Have you ever done something so many times that it becomes routine?

Whether it be shooting a free-throw, getting up at 6am, riding a bike, or a password that you have on your computer or phone, we all have things that we use and do that become part of our daily routine that we simply “do.”

It can be so easy to take those things for granted!

Whenever I go to Midwestern for seminars and I talk with other pastors from all around the country and even some from other countries, it always amazes me how they always talk about how beautiful Missouri is with the hills, trees, and lakes that we so often take for granted.

Why do we take these things for granted?

Because we’re around them all the time.

Whether it be family members, friends, co-workers, or places, it’s so easy for us to take things for granted in this life and the Gospel is no different in the life of a Christian.

Why is there a temptation to take the Gospel for granted?

For one, because, I pray, everything we do as a church should be Gospel-centered.

We should always be about the Gospel as a church!

If you’ve been coming to church long enough there is no doubt that you’ve been tempted to take the Gospel for granted because perhaps you believe that you’ve graduated from it and that only lost people or younger Christians really need the Gospel.

What do we all need to remember today?

That we all need the Gospel each day.

That you never graduate beyond the Gospel but that the Gospel changes everything about you.

We use this term so often in church-life and we see it in Scripture that, again, it can be easy to simply assume that we all know what it means or that we know how it works… but we can’t make that assumption.

What is the Gospel?

Let’s backtrack 2 chapters in Romans 3 to see what Paul shares about the Gospel because the book of Romans is genuinely all about the Gospel of Jesus Christ

So, what exactly is the Gospel?

Romans 3 tells us that each and every one of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s perfect standard.

In our world we like to lower the bar a little bit and dress sin up and call it something that it is not.

Think about this for a minute - I’ve had this conversation with our youth before.

What do we usually say whenever we sin? “I made a mistake” or “I’m really a good person” or “I don’t know why I did that.”

We’re great at generating excuses and using a different word than sin - mistake, error, mess up… If someone tells a lie, what are they called?

A liar.

What if someone steals something?

A thief.

What if someone kills someone?

A murderer.

What if someone sins?

A good person who made a mistake!

No!!

The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and therefore, we’re called sinners.

Each and every one of us are guilty here and this is bad news… but look at what Paul continues to say in this text?

We are justified by God’s grace through Jesus Christ redeeming us through His death, burial, and resurrection!

You and I have hopelessly lost our way.

We’re in darkness as children under God’s wrath.

We’re lost.

We’re dead in our sins and trespasses.

We’re not good people who just make occasional mistakes like our world says… the reality of the situation friends is far darker than that.

We’re on a one way road leading to eternal separation from God.

What does the Gospel message tell us?

Tim Keller put it like this years ago, “Here's the gospel: you're more sinful than you ever dared believe; you're more loved than you ever dared hope.”

That’s good news!

As a congregation at FBC Salem, we need to remember what the Gospel is because our heart is tempted to forget it.

We are tempted to forget our previous condition as Christians and, if you are not a Christian and you are with us this morning, you might be tempted to think that you are not as bad as the Gospel message states.

Because of this, we need to spend some careful time examining what the Word says about our condition and God’s expectation.

So many want God to simply forgive but they don’t understand God’s forgiveness in the first place.

Let’s paint ourselves a picture this morning.

Paul Washer has used this illustration before, suppose there is a person who has killed an entire family in cold blood and this hits the news and the man is about to hear his sentence from the judge while the entire town waits for a guilty verdict.

Yet, the judge says that he is slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and is going to let the murderer walk away absolutely free.

In our eyes we would say that the judge suddenly became public enemy #1 - even worse than the murderer because he knew what the man had done and he let him walk away with no consequence!

God’s Word tell us that we are all sinners and we deserve separation from God because God is just and He must punish sin and sinners.

What does that mean?

For God to wipe the slate clean it would require Him to no longer be just - just like the judge who lets the murderer walk away with no penalty.

So what has God done?

God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ to pay that debt in our place.

Verse 26 tells us that our just God presented Jesus to be this once and for all sacrifice and to justify those who have faith in Him.

What does the Gospel mean?

It means this: Jesus got what you and I deserved and you and I, through faith, receive what Jesus deserved.

This is the Gospel, church.

This is the message that I pray has saved you and I pray this message has changed you.

And as we enter 2023 together, let’s consider 2 questions regarding the Gospel and our community.

Why Should We Share the Gospel?

(1-5)

As we move from Romans 3 to Romans 5, Paul continues to explain the Gospel and as he does so, he dives into what faith in Christ does in the life of a Christian.

Look with me at Romans 5:1, what does God’s Word tell us?

Because Jesus has justified us by grace through faith - because He took our sin upon Himself and paid our debt - we now have peace with God.

If we now have peace with God, what does that mean we had before Jesus justified us?

It means that we were at war with God.

See, what sin does to us is it makes us feel often like we are in charge.

We get to make the rules.

We get to determine what is right and what is wrong… the Bible shares with us that there is only 1 person with the authority to do those types of things and that is God.

Before you and I repent and place our faith in Christ as our Lord, the Bible tells us that we are living as His enemies and whenever you are against God, you will always lose.