Sermon Tone Analysis

A Reason to Rejoice - Part 1

LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

A Reason to Rejoice

November 12, 2017

Dr. David S. Steele

Intro

A. Last week, we witnessed the powerful preamble of Paul as he whet the appetite of the Ephesians believers for the truth of God’s Word.

1.

We learned a bit about the author and learned that he was an apostle.

This apostle was commissioned by the will of God (v. 1).

2. We learned a bit about the recipients of his letter.

He refers to them as saints, as people who are faithful in Christ Jesus (v. 2).

3. We learned about the motivation for writing the letter to the Ephesian church.

Indeed, his letter is a celebration of divine favor where he extends

grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (v.

3).

B. This morning, the title of the message is A Reason to Rejoice

1.

After studying the powerful preamble, it should not surprise you when you learn in the verses that follow, that Paul tells the Ephesian believers

that they have a reason to rejoice.

And since Paul also writes to the collective people of God, we too have a reason to rejoice!

C. Text -

D. We have been blessed beyond all measure.

1.

We have a reason to rejoice because God has chosen us! - Truth Point

E. Building a Bridge to Skeptics and Arminians

1.

I understand the concerns that many people have about the doctrine of election.

2. Early on in my Christian journey, I held to a two-fold assumption:[1]

* Election was according to foreknowledge - This is the view that says, “God looks down the tunnel of time and chooses all those who he see will one day possess saving faith - hence the phrase, ‘election according to foreknowledge.’”[2]

* The will is entirely free - This person has the power or ability to accept or reject the gospel.

This person has as the power to believe the gospel or disbelieve the gospel.

“For Arminianism, human decision making holds a central place in salvation.

This results in a theology that is not exclusively God-centered but is distorted in the direction of the self … Arminianism supplies exactly what today’s evangelicalism demands: a gospel that preserves a determinative role for personal choice.”[3]

3.

Both of these assumptions are widely held in the church.

In fact, it is very likely that some of you this morning are clinging to these assumptions.

4.

After wrestling with Scripture, I came to the conclusion that both assumptions were wrong-headed and unbiblical.

5.

So what you will hear in this message is in the context of understanding, empathy, and humility.

If you’re wrestling with the doctrine of

unconditional election, I know where you’re coming from.

I’ve walked in your moccasins - for many years, I travelled on the path that opposed this doctrine.

F. Convincing the Unconvinced

1.

People are all over the map when it comes to this doctrine.

* Some people are confused about the doctrine of election.

* Some people feel nothing but chagrined about the doctrine of election.

* Some people celebrate this doctrine.

2. My task is to show you that the doctrine of election is not only biblical but that every Christ-follower should rejoice in it!

3. We have a reason to rejoice because God has chosen us! - Truth Point

G.

The Backdrop of Election

1.

We are totally depraved.

a. “Total depravity means that natural man is never able to do any good that is fundamentally pleasing to God, and, in fact does evil all the

time.”[4]

b.

Sinners are born, not made (; ).

c.

The heart is wicked ().

d.

No desire for God ().

e.

No inclination to do good ().

f.

A deep hatred and hostility for God ().

g.

No fear of God ().

h.

Dead in sin ().

i. Enslaved in sin and unable to come to Christ apart from God’s empowerment (; ; ).

j.

A posture that is best described as total inability.

“Man is a free agent but he cannot originate the love of God in his heart.

His will is free in the sense that it is not controlled by a force outside himself.

As the bird with a broken wing is ‘free’ to fly but not able, so the natural man is free to come to God but not able.”[5]

k.

Under the wrath of God apart from Jesus Christ (; ).

2. We are sinful to the core.

Sin is Evil in Its Effects - Thomas Watson[6]

a. Sin has degraded us of our honor.

b.

Sin disquiets the peace of the soul.

c.

Sin produces all temporal evil.

d.

Sin unrepented of brings final damnation.

* “What a pity is it so sweet an affection as love should be poured upon so filthy a thing as sin!

Sin brings a sting in the conscience, a curse in the estate; yet men love it.

A sinner is the greatest self-denier; for his sin he will deny himself a part in heaven.”

3. Our wills are free, yet paralyzed.[7]

Free Will 101

a.

We possess free will.

* Jonathan Edwards defines the will as “That by which the mind chooses anything.

The Faculty of the Will, is that power, or principle of mind, by which it is capable of choosing.”[8]

b.

We are never forced to act contrary to our nature.

* We always choose according to our strongest inclination.

* “A man never, in any instance, wills anything contrary to his desires, or desires anything contrary to his will.”[9]

* “By free will we mean that man’s will is not coerced.

We mean that man is not forced by some external force greater than himself to do something he does not want to do.

We mean that man is free to do what he wants to do within the limits of his ability” (emphasis mine).[10]

c.

Freedom does NOT imply ability.

* Sinful creatures are free to fly - but not able.

* Sinful creatures are free to swim under water without oxygen for an extended period of time - but they are not able to do so.

* Joni Eareckson Tada is free to jump out of her wheel chair and dance - but she is utterly incapable of performing this activity.