Sermon Tone Analysis

Looked at the discipline of “hearing God’s Word”

Illustration:

Robert L. Sumner, in the Wonder of the Word of God, tells of a man in Kansas City who was severely injured in an explosion.

His face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands.

He had only recently become a Christians when the accident happened, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could not longer read the Bible.

Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips.

Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille.

But he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been too badly damaged to distinguish the characters.

One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them.

Like a flash he realized, I can read the Bible using my tongue.

At the time Sumner wrote his book, the man had read through the entire Bible four times.

Discipline toward holiness begins with the Word of God.

Discipline toward holiness begins then with the Scriptures—with a disciplined plan for regular intake of the Scriptures and a disciplined plan for applying them to our daily lives.

Quote:

It is the consistent witness of the New Testament that growth in godliness requires exertion on the part of the Christian.

- DeYoung, Kevin.

The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness (Kindle Locations 1282-1283).

Crossway.

Kindle Edition.

The scripture is not silent about the matter of taking in the Word of God.

Illustration: USA Today reported a poll that showed only 11% of Americans read the Bible every day.

- Whitney, p. 27

A Barna Research Group of “born-again” Christians showed that only 18% read the Bible daily, and 23% never read the Word of God.

(Ibid.)

Of all the disciplines, this must be one of the most neglected disciplines that should exist in our lives.

Propositions: Christians ought to be people of the Book!

Let’s first note a few things about the context:

The book of Matthew is about King Jesus

The book of Matthew is about the Kingdom of Heaven

This passage in Matthew emphasizes various different groups as they relate to the kingdom of Heaven.

The initial conversation in this chapter set’s forth the foundation for the rest of the structure:

Illustration: When we were on the couple’s retreat, a couple of the men were playing life-size Jenga outside of a pizza place where we were getting ready to eat.

As they pulled pieces from the bottom of the structure, it was important for the structure to stay as stable as possible.

Of course the whole point of the game is that you are pulling pieces from the foundation.

For us to understand the text, we want to take close look at one of the blocks in the foundation of the text.

This will help us to understand the emphasis of the message this evening and the foundation of the text.

(1) The expectation of reading (v. 3 - 4)

DeYoung, Kevin.

The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness (Kindle Locations 1282-1283).

Crossway.

Kindle Edition.

We immediately note that scriptures can be read by unbelieving individuals.

We note that Jonathan Edwards the preacher of the Great Awakening came to faith in Christ upon reading the word of God.

The implicit truth here though is that readers of the word must be recipients of the Living Word, if there will be any spiritual understanding at all.

Secondly, (v. 4) the reading of the scriptures confirm for us who is the Sovereign Creator - it tells us WHO IS IN CHARGE.

I shows authority.

Illustration:

It is not uncommon for me to walk out of a room and overhear conversations among our children where one is trying to tell the other what to do.

This then leads to an argument of words.

Then, when I enter back into the room I usually have to reestablish who the authority is in the room.

Similarly, the word of God has a way of reasserting into our hearts who the authority is.

The word reminds us that He is the Creator and we are not.

Application:

If and when we live without the discipline of reading the word of God, we will tend towards a kingdom where we envision ourselves to be gods.

We make our retirement plans

We make our family plans

We make our relationships choices

As if we are little sovereigns in our lives; we set up our little tower of Babels; but the word of God has a way of toppling this structure.

Transition:

The expectation of the word of God is that it be read.

(2) The clarity in reading (v. 5 - 6)

God’s word gives practical direction for how mankind is supposed to live.

In this case, the practical direction is as it relates to marriage.

In God’s Kingdom, God has initial intention, and his initial intention has not changed.

DILEMMA: Some will say, “So, does that mean that every man should be married or visa versa?

The answer is NO.

The beauty of the scriptures that we have is that the “good news” of Jesus has helped us to further understand relationships.

Illustration:

There is a game called “Sequence that we like to play with our friends.”

Each time we have friends who have never played it, we explain the game to them; but there is not explanation of the game that is as good as them just getting right into it.

Similarly, there are some who have only heard of dilemmas and objections to NOT reading the Bible.

Application:

Maybe they have even attempted and they started in a place like Numbers.

The bottom line is that as you read, the Lord gives your greater understanding to process how the “good news” of Jesus allows you to see even the Old Testament commands, but this does not come by you sitting on the sidelines and simply making assumptions.

You have to get into the Word!

Clarity cannot come if you are not immersing yourself in the scriptures.

Transition:

The expectation of the word of God is that it be read.

The clarity of the word is that is gives practical direction to the reader.

(3) The challenge of the word of God (v.

7 - 8)

This is the real issue here.

The Bible challenges the heart of men.

It challenges the authority of our proud hearts.

You see, for some people, the issue is a heart of unbelief or a heart that seeks to govern itself.

Quote:

Boa (p.

221), “It is impossible to progress far in our walk with Christ without a radical shift from an earthbound to a biblical perspective on life.

Yet a surprisingly small minority of believers renew their minds on a consistent basis with the Scriptures, and this means that the majority are more likely to be influence by their culture than by their Creator…for many believers Christ is present in their lives, but his lordship is often resisted or rejected...”

Illustration:

Recently, I was watching a documentary about the African Continent and the various climates and changes that take place.

As part of the documentary, they covered some of the migration of Hippos.

The hippos, as many animals, during the dry seasons migrate to different areas with intentions of finding water to abide in.

The documentary showed how territorial they can become.

In one story, a young hippo saw some young hippo girls and wanted to come meet them.

As he attempted to enter the water, and older hippos from those waters engaged in a fight with the younger hippo.

In the end, the winner would have to leave that watering hole and try to find another spot.

As territorial as animals can be, our hearts can be quite territorial when the word of God is entering in.

The word of God points us to the supremacy of Jesus.

The word of God calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow up.

The word of God challenges our hearts, and it is to our detriment if we harden our hearts to the advances of the word of God.