Sermon Tone Analysis

Over the course of this letter, Paul has introduced a vast majority of topics.

And as I pointed out as we progress through this letter all began to unpack things that he stated earlier.

I would say Paul is not discussing anything new here.

The same is true of what we are covering today.

Al is not saying anything that he has not already said.

But, he is explaining something that he has stated.

This explanation helps us better understand the Old Testament.

This explanation helps us better understand Salvation.

And this explanation helps us understand the issue of sin within an around the church.

You can actually broaden that statement.

it is not just the issue of sin within and around the church But within our country.

Within our family.

It could also help us understand how unbelievers can prosper so well.

Because at times seems like some unbelievers prosper.

But do not think of the unbeliever, at least in the context of what we will be talking about and that context you don't know yet, but do not think of the unbeliever in this context as someone who willingly and happily regects God.

we will be discussing unbelievers who think they are believers or pretend to be believers.

and these kind of people are very hard to spot.

They are the type that appear to do all the right things and say all the right things but are not truly the ones they are claiming to be.

but before I begin discussing that, I have to back up to a wider view so I can narrow in on what I am talking about.

Let us start with our own country.

Do we live in a Christian country?

Some of you may say yes, some of you may say no and some of you may say it used to be.

And I'm going to argue that it never was.

I affirm that this was once a land that held Christian values, but do not mistake that to mean a Christian nation.

Let's just think about it for a second.

America is a Christian nation; does that mean everyone born in this nation is automatically a Christian?

Of course not.

Therefore we cannot make the claim that we are or were a Christian nation rather we are a nation who held Christian values.

And there is a difference.

We do not hold to a birthright form of religion.

Not everyone who is born in America is automatically a Christian and I do not think that there is a person in here who would argue with me on that.

Alright let's narrow it down.

We know that not everyone born in this nation is automatically Christian so let's make the scale a bit smaller.

Let's reduce it down to just the church.

Let's reduce it down to just the church in the United States.

You can include the church worldwide that's fine it doesn't hurt but for the sake of conversation let's just restrict it a body of believers in one land.

Let's think of every congregation of every denomination that confess is a trinitarian form of belief within the United States.

There are many different denominations, but let's just call it the Christian Church as that is what it is.

Is everybody who sits with in the walls of all these churches automatically saved?

Does the mere fact that use it inside of the church make you a Christian?

The answer is no of course not.

But let's not stop there, what about the family.

Does having Christian parents automatically mean that the children are saved?

The answer is no of course not.

There are many out there who act as if these things are true but when we stayed him out loud like we are we say absolutely not.

And yet, more people commit these acts than you can possibly imagine.

And more Christians are fooled then you can possibly imagine.

fool might be a harsh word; misled is probably more accurate.

But there are people out there who put a lot of stock into their Association.

We have talked about this in the past but I have not explained it in the way that I just explained it now.

The easy believeism movement is a movement guilty of this.

They are the ones that I've discussed in the past that state all you have to do is raise your hand just once and your saved no matter what.

They have a false hope , and they teach a false hope.

This does not mean that everybody within this movement is not saved or that they cannot be saved sticking around within their circles.

But it does mean that there are those who believe they are saved when they are in fact not.

Jesus makes it clear to us that there will be many who believe that they are saved and he will tell them depart from me I never knew you.

Depart from me you workers of evil.

So we should not be surprised when we encounter those who truly think they are saved and you discover that they are not.

There are people out there who trust in their baptism for their Salvation.

This is obviously a stumbling block for Catholicism.

But there are those in Protestant Christianity who are confused on this subject as well.

They will want to baptize their infants and they will say well if your baby dies don't you want your baby to go to heaven?

But the age we are living in is truly bizarre in that this age celebrates sin.

Not only does this age celebrate sin, but many within the church come alongside these people and celebrates with them.

It is no longer seen as a bad thing or a violation against the law.

And what brings many of these churchgoers affirmation is that they find a kind of reward from sin that they believe is from God.

A subject we do not discuss a nuff is the false rewards of sin.

Not that sin actually rewards.

But sin and the work of evil can and does give people the desires of their heart.

And those who are misled often think that these rewards come from God.

So they offer up praise to a god that they invented in their own head 4 things that never came from God.

For example; if a person is a part of the ministry that affirms homosexuality and this person is praying for God to help them in their sin, and then what they been asking for comes to fruition and they believe this is a reward from God when rather it is sinful desire being fulfilled.

Now it wasn't that long ago when this scenario that I just gave would be unheard of.

But this scenario I just gave does happen.

Same attitude can be applied to other things.

I used a scenario that I knew you all would not agree with.

I used a scenario that you all would affirm this is not Christianity.

What happens with that scenario is not as clear as the one I just stated.

What happens when greed is rewarded and people think it is the blessing of God?

What happens when selfishness is rewarded and people think it is the blessing of God?

These are the ones that tend to be overlooked.

But it does happen often.

Now if you're a critical thinker right now you should be thinking well those are not rewards.

I agree, we're talking about the desires of the heart being fulfilled and people crediting God for that fulfillment.

You may also be thinking well obviously selfishness and greed are 2 things that we despise.

And I agree as well, but selfishness and greed are hidden desires.

A sin like homosexuality is something somebody declares.

Somebody can hide it that's in as well, but we're talking about the one who is out and celebrating this sin.

There's not many parades for greed.

You did not see greed celebrated as often.

Not on the same scale anyway.

Also, in Orthodox ministry would never affirm homosexuality.

So no homeosexual will not join in Orthodox ministry.

But, these inward sinful desires are within Orthodox ministries.

And you have to understand that there are many who sit in the pews every Sunday who are not saved.

let's see how Paul explains this and we will tie it all together.

Romans 9:

We kinda have to recap to understand why Paul is saying what he is saying.

As is always true with all of scripture ; context context context means everything.

So what we covered in is essential to understanding what Paul is saying here in now