Sermon Tone Analysis

Q. Am I, as a Christian, basically a sinner who is forgiven, or a saint who sins?”

Saints by Calling

Date: 17-03-19 825 Echuca

Q. Am I, as a Christian, basically a sinner who is forgiven, or a saint who sins?”

Q.

There is truth in both, but which is more correct?

- This is an important question, insofar as it goes to the heart of every Christian's motivation

- If you consider yourself a sinner who is forgiven, you tend to brush off the possibility that real & lasting change can take place in your life

- If you consider yourself a saint who sins, then you start from a position of positive identify about yourself

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- You will hear plenty of voices affirming that we are “miserable sinners” & a number of church catechisms express that

- Martin Luther's short catechism teaches the believer to say,

“I, miserable sinner, confess myself before God guilty of all manner of sins.”

- Now you may say that this is true & to a degree you may be correct just as many half truths present themselves as truth, yet overall, they show to be false

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- There are subtleties that you should be aware of

1.

In the core of your being, are you happy to sin?

- A Christian cannot say, that he or she is happy to sin

- If you say that you are happy & delighted to sin, then you cannot claim to be a Christian

2. Are you transformed?

- Has Christ transferred you from darkness to light, from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of Christ?

- If you haven't been transferred, then you are a sinner that needs the salvation of Christ

3. When we consider that the apostle Paul divides his letters up with first theology & then practise, what theology does he present with respect to the believer's identity – a positive one OR a negative one

- Is it one whose identity is on the winning side, or one whose identify is on the losing side?

- I'm sure we would all agree that he speaks positively of the believer's position in Christ & God

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Q.

When the apostle Paul, in his Epistles, talks about a change of clothing, what does this relate to?

—27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

- The person who becomes a believer, who is baptised into Christ, is clothed with Christ – new clothing is envisaged here & the new clothing signifies the change of identity

—20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

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- We looked at that interesting passage in Romans which speaks about the person's transition out of the present evil age & into the “age to come”

- In , Paul says that, in baptism – and he uses baptism since it is the Christian's point of conversion being expressed – that the person is transferred into the age to come, to where Christ is, having already gone before

—3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

Q. Did you pick up what that says there?

- Old self was crucified with Him...in order that...our body of sin might be done away with... & he who has died is freed from sin

- Wow!

That is an incredible statement!

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- Too often in reformed circles, the emphasis is on the pardon & not the transformation – get what I mean here?

- The emphasis is on Christ who died for your pardon so that you are, in principle, free

- Your life may not change at all – but you are pardoned & forgiven!

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- Surely, we cannot believe that God went to all the trouble of the cross, - the pain & agony – the hideous nature of the cross

- He cannot have planned this from eternity past all just so a person can be forgiven & pardoned – is this the purpose of the cross?

- Never, never, never – forgiveness & pardon are a means to an end – they are not the end in itself – reconciliation is the end!

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- The original problem of sin which led to the expulsion of the pair in the Garden of Eden was their disobedience & disloyalty to God

- From there, the human race inherited their independent streak that led to further alienation from God

Q.

How could mankind be brought back to God?

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- This question suggests the original intention of God, for the people He created – fellowship, relationship, loyalty, faithfulness, obedience!

- We ourselves want these same things – we are relational beings

- We crave for loyalty – yes?

True enough.

We hurt deeply when people have been disloyal to us

- So too with God

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- Now, I guess, God could try law & force – “obey me or else” – that might work, except for the fact that the “or else” would probably end in zero population left

- Already, in early Genesis, we see this being revealed

—1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive [put up with] with man forever, because he also is weak flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

- One hundred & twenty years is all he had left until God destroyed the world with a flood & He began again with Noah & his family

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- The plan of God is to win the heart of man

- You do not win the heart of man through law – God knew that, but we had to learn that too, which is why He used THE law to show us sin

Q.

And how do you win the heart of man who is so lost & so weak that he finds himself in a place where it is impossible for him to crawl out?

Q.

And how do you win a person who is so laden with guilt that he cannot bear to look God in the eye?

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- You win him through grace & mercy

- Grace is giving a person what they don't deserve & mercy is not giving them what they do deserve

- Both of these beautiful virtues are seen mounted on the cross of Christ

- So in truth, the cross does pay the price of our sins, in truth, through the cross, we are pardoned

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- But with the express purpose of reconciliation

- To achieve reconciliation, the cross was used to provide pardon for guilt which kept man from coming close to God

- The cross provided the reconciliation that granted the very presence of God in the believer's life

- No longer under the dominion of weak flesh, he & she is under the dominion (control) of the Spirit

- No longer a slave to sin & alienation from God, the believer is a willing slave to Christ & says “no” to sin & “yes” to God

- One who is done with the sinfulness, with the disobedience & with the disloyalty of the world & says with the beatitudes of Jesus

—6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

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- Finally, God has achieved what He ultimately desired...

- Fellowship, obedience, loyalty & love from the heart of man to Himself

—21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed?

For the outcome of those things is death.

22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free transformational gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

- This passage is saying exactly that – that the gift of God is all encompassing as a way to transform the very heart of man back to God

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- Can I suggest to you, then, that a positive outlook is needed

- You are no longer a miserable sinner who is forgiven

- You are a saint of God who, until Christ comes, sadly, can & does sin

- The reason we sin – stems from the fact that whilst we have been moved into the “age to come” & experience the power of God in our lives, we are still tied to the world of flesh – a fallen & corrupt world that throws temptation after temptation at us

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- But realise this – that you have the power of God to bear, what the apostle calls, the “fruit” of the Spirit

- In other words, our new behaviours are not brought about through the power of flesh, but the power of God's Spirit (this is an objective change – a real change that came into our world because of Christ)

- God dwells with the Christian & empowers the Christian, supernaturally, to live a life that submits to God & glorifies Christ

—7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

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- This has been a lengthy introduction, but it should serve to help you better understand this letter of 1 Corinthians

- This letter shows us some terrible failings of Christians when they get caught up in the world & start listening to the world

- What they end up doing is they bring the world into their Christian life & understanding & in the end, it corrupts the truth of the Gospel & perverts the purposes of God

- WARNING here – never think that this does not, nor will not, happen to you

- The church throughout history has been led to a greater or lesser degree by the worldliness coming out of secular culture

1.

The Setting of Corinth

On the ABC website posted on 1st August, 2006 we read this article:

Former Echuca brothel 'historically significant'

“The National Trust had classified a former brothel at Echuca as a historically significant Victorian building.

The six room brick building in the historic wharf precinct operated when Echuca was one of Australia's busiest inland ports, in the late 1800s.

Heritage Victoria will decide whether it should be given statutory protection.