Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Enough is enough, we have all been there.

Ill.

Kickball in the house.

It happens to everyone.

There were times that the Apostle Paul had had enough too.

Turn in your Bible to the book of want you to hear the language of Paul.

Hear how upset he is.

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5. What was Paul so upset about?

Paul had enough of people saying that Faith was not enough for salvation.

In other words, some people were convincing the new believers in Galatia that there were specific actions that they needed to perform to be a real Christian.

On his first missionary journey, Paul had preached to them the Gospel that was given him directly by a direct revelation of Jesus Christ.

Someone had come behind him and preached a perverted Gospel that said faith was not enough.

Read the text:

There we a segment of the early church that believed that to be Christian you must be a Jew or become one through circumcision and the only to be a good Christian was by being obedient to the Jewish regulations and rituals.

Paul writes in this letter how he even stood up to Peter regarding this issue.

Peter had come to Antioch where Paul was probably to hear all about Paul’s first missionary journey to Southern Galatia.

While he was there he ate with Gentiles.

He was no longer bound by the Jewish dietary laws which would not allow this.

Let’s read what happened next!

Galatians 2:11-

To get an idea of how Paul probably felt, I want us to go back in time.

Illustration of Mocking Jesus:

There you are approaching the hill of Golgotha.

Atop the hill, along the road way stand three crosses with men on them writhing.

Your stomach turns, the stench of body odor, metallic smell of dried blood.

You see a crown of thorns on the man in the middle—you know that is Jesus.

There is a sign above his head you cannot read.

You recognize some Greek and Latin letters and recall from the Bible that the sign reads King of the Jews.

Your eyes can barely take it all in, the suffering and humiliation He is enduring is too much.

Yet, like the others gathering around, you can't stop looking.

You follow the blood dripping from his brow down his face.

The swelling and the bruising reminds you of what you read about that dreadful night when he was arrested.

He was betrayed by Judas, one of his followers, and was led off to a secret gathering of religious leaders.

There they asked him if he was the messiah.

Jesus told them "I am."

But instead of accepting this they looked at Jesus who was not the kingly messiah they expected and said in their hearts, "you are not enough.

They punched him in the face, slapped him, ripped out his beard!

You see torn flesh, tears along his rib cage where sharp stones at the end of whip tassels swung across his body, Roman guards yanking back.

Suddenly, Jesus jerks his body upwards, putting all his weight on the huge spike driven through his two feet into the wood of the cross.

The feet worn from traveling dusty roads of Palestine, Jesus serving, teaching, healing.

Those feet, just hours ago struggling to walk the road out of Jerusalem, Jesus trying to carry his cross to the hill.

Now, his body collapsing against the cross, taking the weight off the bones of his feet, the movement yanks his outstretched.

The hands that touched the leper and made him whole.

The hands that multiplied sardines and bread to feed 5000 people.

The hands that held a small child as he said let the children come to me.

Those hands.

Now pierced with spikes.

You recall reading how when the Roman executioners were nailing those hands to the cross, Jesus called out breathlessly, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

It is only mid-morning but you notice the sky is getting dark, winds are picking up.

You notice some men, religious leaders by their fancy garb yelling at him “to save himself and come down off the cross.”

Mocking him.

The thieves are mocking him too.

You remember reading how one of them eventually realizes who Jesus is and asks him for salvation.

Never forget, Jesus gave it.

Now there you are and there is Jesus.

How would you feel if in that moment someone in your group broke from the crowd, went up to Jesus hanging on the cross and said, "Hey Jesus...what you are doing here is great.

But it is not enough!

You are wasting your time!

You are doing this for no purpose."

Do you feel the shock?

You may even be mad at me for mentioning it like that in such a way.

Its just completely awful.

It is unfathomable!

That is why Paul is so angry and so forceful in this letter.

Wouldn’t use also use words like bewitched, perplexed, cursed, and emasculate themselves!

He saw any attempt to add anything at all to Christ’s work for Salvation (or any attempt to leave Christ's work out of living the Christian life) is essentially saying that Christ died for no purpose!

What He did was not enough!

Paul wrote this under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so the message is from God to Us! We need to heed His Word.

CIT: Paul wanted his readers to stop distorting the Gospel by adding specific human requirements to the process of salvation, but instead trust that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ.

Christians should stop trying to earn salvation and favor with God, but instead trust Jesus for salvation.

Christ Plus NOTHING = EVERYTHING!

Christ plus ABSOLUTELY NOTHING = Infinitely more than everything!

6.

People are doing the same thing today.

We need to hear this word today.

If we are not careful, we do this too.

7. Who needs to hear this message?

If you are wondering how much does it take to please God and get into heaven, this message is for you.

If you are confused and think that all there is to being a Christian is going to church, carrying a bible, wearing a cross necklace and WWJD bracelet and have a fish bumper sticker, then this word is for you.

If you are wondering what is required for salvation and for living the Christian life, this message is for you.

If you are wanting God’s power in your life but just don’t feel it, this message is for you.

If you think you got it all together and you have got all your bases covered and you and God are doing just fine, this message is for you too.

Transition Sentence:

So how do we keep from making this mistake.

How can we be certain we are not adding anything to the Gospel of Christ.

Keeping it SIMPLE: The shorted Sermon Outline: DIE.

LIVE!

I. Die.

a. Self.

This is our key text.

When we are saved we identify with the crucifixion of Christ.

When we come to the end of our selves, and recognize that Jesus is God and by implication our Lord and Savior; When we have faith that his work on the cross is the only thing that can remove our sin put us into a right relationship with God and His resurrection makes the way to live forever with Him; When we get to this place and call on Jesus to Save us, HE WILL!

When he does, your old self dies!

Christ kills it.

In that moment, we identify with Christ in His crucifixion.

We do not literally get crucified nor is there some mystic re-crucifixion of Christ.

It is an identification as our old lives are killed so they can be made new.

b.

Law.

When we are saved, we die to the Law so that we can live for God.