Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro: We are continuing to study into the promise that Jesus made to us in the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel:

John 15:13–15 (NKJV) — 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Purpose: Today, we are going to examine Jesus’ instruction concerning the general pattern of our lives.

We are going to see that we have a choice to make.

We will revisit some foundational principles that we might not have thought about for some time.

Mat 7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.

14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

v There are two ways of life:

Ø One leads to salvation and eternal life, the other to destruction.

Ø We used to hear them characterized as the way of give and the way of get.

v The way of get

Ø This is the way that puts the self at the front of the line despite the needs or wants of others.

Ø It seeks to benefit from others, at their expense.

Ø The get way is the way of theft.

Ø We talked last time about how many kinds of theft man’s law addresses.

God simply says “You shall not steal”.

Ø God understands that we know when we are stealing.

Not necessary to define every kind of theft.

Ø The Get way of life is embodied by competition.

Ø Survival of the fittest.

Ø It is a way of life that expresses hatred rather than love.

Ø This is the way of life that resists and disobeys the simple and concise principles God has given us to regulate human life.

v The way of give

Ø Characterized by outgoing concern for others.

Ø Doesn’t seek its’s own gain and profit at the expense of others

Ø Is willing to suffer loss so that someone else may gain.

Ø It is the way of cooperation.

Ø This way has been described as the way of love.

Ø The Greek word, Agape is defined as the kind of love that isn’t looking for a return on investment.

Ø It is given unconditionally and doesn’t require that the love be returned.

Ø The give way results in peace.

v We can also classify these two ways as the way of obedience to God’s law and His word, contrasted by the way of disobedience:

Psalm 1:1–4 (NKJV) — 1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Ø But the wicked choose a different way:

Psalm 1:4-8 The ungodly are not so,But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Ø This is exactly what Jesus was saying.

The right way leads to life and the other way leads to death.

Ø The right way is the way of obedience to the law and the word of God.

Ø The natural mind of man can’t always comprehend the law of God or the principles contained in the word of God.

Romans 8:7–8 (NKJV) — 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Ø Thy word is a light unto my feet-Camp Thunderbird-Lost in the woods at night, boy scout camp

Psalm 119:105 (NKJV) — 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

Ø Jesus is telling us to follow the narrow path the Bible illuminates.

Ø Don’t follow the crowd (many go in by the wide gate).

§ Sheep like to follow each other.

§ I read a story about a New Zealand sheepherder who lost a very large flock—hundreds of sheep.

§ One accidently ran over a cliff.

§ The rest followed.

§ That is why we must be sure we are following the Shepherd.

v The two ways are symbolized by the two trees in the Garden:

Genesis 2:8–9 (NKJV) — 8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Ø The two trees were symbolic of the two ways of life.

Ø The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represented the way that departs from the way of God, from obedience.

§ It represents man’s attempt to devise his own way.

§ To live by his own principles.

§ To make up his own standards of good and evil.

§ The way that leads to death.

Ø The tree of life represents

§ Acceptance of God’s knowledge

§ Reliance on God and His wisdom

§ Obedience to God’s commands

§ The way that leads to eternal life.

v The story told by Herman Hoeh at the FOT in 1980 in Rapid City

Ø Recount the story

Ø This faction believes that their way of life, their philosophy can produce good results and deserves a trial.

v The correct way is not the easiest.

Ø It’s not the way we would tend to go naturally.

Ø It tends not to make sense to the natural mind.

Ø It is a way that is navigated by faith-not easy.

Ø It is not a short-cut.

It is the long road.

Ø God often does things by the long road:

§ Good things take time to grow and mature.

§ Wine, for example.

· Many steps in the process

· Must be aged

· Takes patience and practice to arrive at the correct method

§ Living the correct way for many years produces fruit in us that can’t be synthesized.

§ God can’t create perfect character instantly

§ He tried that.

It didn’t always work.

Ezekiel 28:15 (NKJV) — 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.

§ It takes a lifetime of experience in living by His standards.

§ Character is developed in men by a lifetime of making the correct choices.

§ When Hillel exercised choice, he chose to do evil.

v There is a gate, a door that leads to eternal life.

Ø A gate can be a portal or a roadblock.

Ø Gates keep out the unauthorized.

Luke 13:24–30 (NKJV) — 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ 26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’

27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.

Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’