Sermon Tone Analysis

Salvation is for All Men

Advent season is upon us:

Expected waiting, anticipation and preparation

You can make yourself ready, all pretty spiritually, spiritual singing voice, perfect attendance, best outfit, a deep sincere “Hello brother” as you enter God’s sanctuary, but I think what pleases God all the more is dirty hands and a dirty face and dirty “knees.”

Are we a praying church?

Are we real praying church?

Is it in your nature to take time to pray?

Why?

Why Pray?

Why does Paul exhort us so?

What is the issue he wants to resolve through prayer?

Saved from what?

We wont develop a prayer life, we won’t pray for others, until we understand a few truths:

God is Holy

We are not.

Sin is imbedded in us and we must put it off.

Without the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit we cannot.

We must develop, learn, understand, and be able to articulate what sin is.

We must develop a theology of personal sin.

Why?

Because God has a standard.

Personal Holiness.

Be Holy therefore, because I am holy.

You shouldn’t make it up

Shouldn’t get it from a friend, relative, grandma, or a country song

You must take the authority of scripture here and make the Scripture our standard

No other doctrine will suffice

No other document will ever take its place

Heaven and earth may pass away but my words will never

Questions the church must answer if we are going to develop a prayer for all people

*Should the church permit constant sinning?

*Is justification viewed as a theology of love that allows the sinner to keep on sinning?

*Does the scripture teach new birth provides a measure of grace sufficient to keep us from willful sin?

We don’t consider ignorance sin.

So you missed an appointment, so what.

So you forgot an important date, so what.

There is a difference between a forgotten promise and a broken promise.

We consider the commandments, Old and New Testament, the law.

Sin is ethical in its conduct, it implies “conscience choice.”

“A voluntary transgression of a know law of God: Wesley stated.

It is what we do!

Can we walk our christian life every day with the intent of living a life of love, perfect before God?

Well to do so, we must keep the commandments.

What are the commandments?

Glad you asked.

Love God.

Love your neighbor.

No coveting, no stealing, no murdering, honor mom and dad.

No lust in your heart.

No hatred, love your enemies, do good to those who persecute you, give your coat, go two miles, turn the other cheek, bless and don’t curse, forgive as you have been forgiven, love unconditionally.

Do you see any problem being this man or woman 24/7?

Yeah.

It’s hard word.

But it gets easier as God’s grace consumes us and we look through Him, through His eyes into the life that obstructs us.

How many times must I forgive my brother?

Seven times?

No, seventy times seven.

As you have been forgiven.

Without a theology of sin, without an understanding of what we can become, what they can become, we won’t develop a life of prayer.

I don’t need God’s grace if I’m perfectly ok with what ever comes out of my mouth.

If there is no standard, no judge, no law, what would we pray against?

But there is.

Men need our prayers

Kings and those in authority need our prayers

And we are to give thanks for them, pray for them, seek God’s best interest for them.

(King and preacher story)

Without a theology of salvation, what is our end goal?

That all men be good?

That all men be like us?

Same personality, same likes, same discord, some demeanor, BORING!

No, but Paul calls us to this truth:

1 Tim 2:3-4

What does it mean that all men are to be saved?

What does it mean that all men are to be saved

Saved from what?

What is truth, where does it come from?

The very nature of our Lord and savior, given by Divine command, lays a firm foundation for the trust of the guilty; open a most glorious hope to man, even that of salvation from the guilt and penalty from the power and pollution of sin in this life and beyond.

It is a power for the resurrection from the dead, immortality and eternal happiness.

Paul wrote about this, understood this and walked according to His precepts and promises.

Horrible!

No defense on the field whatsoever!

Why is Paul stating we pray for all men, kings and those in authority?

I want you to consider this;

Back to earth:

Why is Paul stating all this?

Having been released from prison, Paul knows the deteriorating climate.

He knows the resentment, and the Jews are part of the problem.

After all they were the reason he had been beaten, stoned and thrown in prison.

Government was the ruler, Kings were the rulers.

They could make it hard on the spread of the gospel, or easier on the spread of the gospel.

Isn’t God’s economy interesting.

The harder life is, the more the church prospers.

The easier life is, the worse off the church is financially?

No, spiritually.

We begin to take God for granted.

We create our own, self pleasing theologies.

re: God doesn’t want people to go to hell, He loves everyone.

All go to heaven

There are many ways to God, you Christians don’t have the only answer, there’s no monopoly of God ya know.

Only __________ (our denomination) has the “real” way to heaven