Sermon Tone Analysis

1.   The Bible says that Jesus came, not to enable men to save themselves, but to save sinners (Matthew 1:21; Luke 19:10; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:3-4; 1 Timothy 1:15; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 3:18)

2. Jesus, by His redeeming work, secured reconciliation for His people (Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Ephesians 2:15-16; Colossians 1:21-22)

3. Jesus secured the righteousness and pardon needed by His people for their justification (Romans 3:24-25; Romans 5:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Galatians 3:13; Colossians 1:13-14; Hebrews 9:12; 1 Peter 2:24)

4. Jesus secured the gift of the Spirit which includes regeneration and sanctification and all that is involved in them (Ephesians 1:3-4; Philippians 1:29; Acts 5:31; Titus 2:14; Titus 3:5-6; Ephesians 5:25-26; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 13:12; 1 John 1:7)

5. Jesus was sent into the world by the Father to save the people which the Father had given to Him.

Those given to Him by the Father come to Him (see and believe in Him) and none of them shall be lost (John 6:35–40)

6. Jesus, as the good shepherd, lays down His life for His sheep.

All who are “His sheep” are brought by Him into the fold and are made to hear His voice and follow Him.

Notice that the Father had given the sheep to Christ! (John 10:11, 14-18, 24-29)

7. Jesus, in His high priestly prayer, prays not for the world but for those given to Him by the Father.

In fulfillment of the Father’s charge Jesus had accomplished the work the Father had sent Him to do—to make God known to His people and to give them eternal life (John 17:1–11, 20, 24–26)

8. Paul declares that all of the “spiritual blessings” which the saints inherit such as sonship, redemption, the forgiveness of sin, etc., result from their being “in Christ,” and he traces these blessings back to their ultimate source in the eternal counsel of God—to that great blessing of their having been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and destined to be God’s sons through Him (Ephesians 1:3–12)

9.

The parallel which Paul draws between the condemning work of Adam and the saving work of Jesus Christ the “second man,” the “last Adam,” can best be explained on the principle that both stood in covenant relation to “their people” (Adam stood as the federal head of the race, and Christ stood as the federal head of the elect).

As Adam involved his people in death and condemnation by his sin, even so Christ brought justification and life to His people through His righteousness (Romans 5:12, 17–19)

[SIDE NOTE] Some passages speak of Christ’s dying for “all” men and of His death as saving the “world,” yet others speak of His death as being definite in design and of His dying for particular people and securing salvation for them.

There are two classes of texts that speak of Christ’s saving work in general terms: (a) Those containing the word “world”—e.g., John 1:9, 29; 3:16, 17; 4:42; 2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 John 2:1, 2; 4:14 and (b) Those containing the word “all”—e.g., Romans 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15; 1 Timothy 2:4–6; Hebrews 2:9; 2 Peter 3:9.

[SIDE NOTE Continued] One reason for the use of these expressions was to correct the false notion that salvation was for the Jews alone.

Such phrases as “the world,” “all men,” “all nations,” and “every creature” were used by the New Testament writers to emphatically correct this mistake.

These expressions are intended to show that Christ died for all men without distinction (i.e., He died for Jews and Gentiles alike) but they are not intended to indicate that Christ died for all men without exception (i.e., He did not die for the purpose of saving each and every lost sinner)

10.

There are other passages which speak of His saving work in definite terms and show that it was intended to infallibly save a particular people, namely those given to Him by the Father (Matthew 1:21, 20:28, Matthew 26:28; John 10:11, 11:50–53; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:25–27; Romans 8:32–34; Hebrews 2:17, 3:1, 9:15, 9:28; Revelation 5:9)