Sermon Tone Analysis

Pre-Introduction

Good evening!

Good evening!It is always a joy and honor to be able to preach the word of God to his people.

Even more joyous is the fact that the Lord has granted the opportunity to speak to His congregation, the gathering of the church of God.

Pray with me as we ask God to prepare our hearts, mine as I preach and yours as you listen, to receive the teaching of the Word of God and enable us to apply it in our lives.

It is always a joy and honor to be able to preach the word of God to his people.

Even more joyous is the fact that the Lord has granted the opportunity to speak to His congregation, the gathering of the church of God.

Pray with me as we ask God to prepare our hearts, mine as I preach and yours as you listen, to receive the teaching of the Word of God and enable us to apply it in our lives.

See, I answer him that asketh, “What did God before He made heaven and earth?”

I answer not as one is said to have done merrily (eluding the pressure of the question), “He was preparing hell (saith he) for pryers into mysteries.”

Main Introduction

Main Introduction

There’s a story told of a man who asked St Augustine, the great Christian theologian, with a question that he thought Augustine wouldn’t be able to answer.

His question was, “What was God doing before he created the world?”

There’s a story told of a man who wanted to catch Martin Luther, the great Reformer, with a question that he wouldn’t be able to answer.

So he asked Martin Luther, “Dr Luther, what was God doing before he created the world?”

Pat comes the reply from Augustine, “God was preparing hell for people who ask such questions.”

Pat came the reply from Martin Luther saying, “He was creating a place called hell for people who ask questions like that.”

Get Interest

Get Interest

Questions are good, doubts are good.

It is through them that we seek to find the answer to some of the most intriguing events of life.

And throughout the ages, great thinkers and common people alike have both sought after an answer to one question which supposedly is one of the most perplexing questions of life:If God is so good, why is there evil in the world?To put it slightly differently, why do good, innocent people suffer?

Does God not care?Based on their convictions, people have answered this question in radically different manner.

Our atheists friends would say, “Look!

God does not exist because if he did exist then the world wouldn’t be such an evil place and people wouldn’t suffer.”Our

Hindu friends would say, “All that we see in this world is just an illusion - maya.

Good or bad is just an illusion, like Brahman, they are two sides of the same coin and all that we need to do is achieve moksha by doing works that are good according to you.”Of course, our Muslim friends would say, “Insha Allah.

Everything is the will of Allah and all things happen according to what he has decreed.

We just have to submit.”So,

our Atheist friends answer this question by denying the existence of the Divinity, our Hindu friends answer the question by denying the Reality of evil and our Muslim friends appeal to the seemingly arbitrary nature of Allah’s decree.

Questions are good, doubts are good.

It is through them that we seek to find the answer to some of the most intriguing events of life.

And throughout the ages, great thinkers and common people alike have both sought after an answer to one question which supposedly is one of the most perplexing questions of life: If God is so good, why is there evil in the world?

To put it slightly differently, why do good, innocent people suffer?

Does God not care?

To put it slightly differently, why do good, innocent people suffer?

Does God not care?

Based on their convictions, people have answered this question in radically different manner.

Our atheists friends would say, “Look!

God does not exist because if he did exist then the world wouldn’t be such an evil place and people wouldn’t suffer.”Our

Hindu friends would say, “All that we see in this world is just an illusion - maya.

Good or bad is just an illusion, like Brahman, they are two sides of the same coin and all that we need to do is achieve moksha by doing works that are good according to you.”Of course, our Muslim friends would say, “Insha Allah.

Everything is the will of Allah and all things happen according to what he has decreed.

We just have to submit.”So,

our Atheist friends answer this question by denying the existence of the Divinity, our Hindu friends answer the question by denying the Reality of evil and our Muslim friends appeal to the seemingly arbitrary nature of Allah’s decree.

Based on their convictions, people have answered this question in radically different manner.

Questions are good, doubts are good.

It is through them that we seek to find the answer to some of the most intriguing events of life.

And throughout the ages, great thinkers and common people alike have both sought after an answer to one question which supposedly is one of the most perplexing questions of life:If God is so good, why is there evil in the world?To put it slightly differently, why do good, innocent people suffer?

Does God not care?Based on their convictions, people have answered this question in radically different manner.

Our atheists friends would say, “Look!

God does not exist because if he did exist then the world wouldn’t be such an evil place and people wouldn’t suffer.”Our

Hindu friends would say, “All that we see in this world is just an illusion - maya.

Good or bad is just an illusion, like Brahman, they are two sides of the same coin and all that we need to do is achieve moksha by doing works that are good according to you.”Of course, our Muslim friends would say, “Insha Allah.

Everything is the will of Allah and all things happen according to what he has decreed.

We just have to submit.”So,

our Atheist friends answer this question by denying the existence of the Divinity, our Hindu friends answer the question by denying the Reality of evil and our Muslim friends appeal to the seemingly arbitrary nature of Allah’s decree.

Our atheists friends would say, “Look!

God does not exist because if he did exist then the world wouldn’t be such an evil place and people wouldn’t suffer.”

Our Hindu friends would say, “All that we see in this world is just an illusion - maya.

Good or bad is just an illusion, like Brahman, they are two sides of the same coin and all that we need to do is achieve moksha by doing works that are good according to you.”

Of course, our Muslim friends would say, “Insha Allah.

Everything is the will of Allah and all things happen according to what he has decreed.

We just have to submit.”

So, our Atheist friends answer this question by denying the existence of the Divinity, our Hindu friends answer the question by denying the Reality of evil and our Muslim friends appeal to the seemingly arbitrary nature of Allah’s decree.

Raise Need

Raise Need

What about us?

Those of us who call ourselves Christians because of our faith in Jesus Christ, how do we answer this question?

Is there evil in the world because God does not exist?

Or is it that good and evil are merely illusory constructs that are helpful just to live in this world?

Or are both these realities equally valid and true?

How do we respond to the reality of evil and injustice in the world?

What about us?

Those of us who call ourselves Christians because of our faith in Jesus Christ, how do we answer this question?

Is there evil in the world because God does not exist?

Or is it that good and evil are merely illusory constructs that are helpful just to live in this world?

Or are both these realities equally valid and true?How do we respond to the reality of evil and injustice in the world?

Orient Theme

Orient Theme

Well, if ever we need to find an answer to that question that makes both, sense in our minds, and affects our hearts without denying any of the reality that we see in the world, we must turn to the only one who alone can answer it.

It is not man nor God but the God-man, Jesus Christ.

Only he can provide for us the answer since he is both fully God and fully man.As God, His answer addresses the reality of evil how God sees it and the remedy that God provides for it and as a man, his answer affects the way we live our lives in this world knowing this great truth.

Well, if ever we need to find an answer to that question that makes both, sense in our minds, and affects our hearts without denying any of the reality that we see in the world, we must turn to the only one who alone can answer it.

The only one who perceives all things fully and completely yet experiences the same from the vantage point of humanity, for he is truly the God-man, Jesus Christ.

Only he can provide for us the answer since he is both fully God and fully man.

As God, His answer addresses the reality of evil how God sees it and the remedy that God provides for it and as a man, his answer affects the way we live our lives in this world knowing this great truth.

Purpose

Purpose

So, let’s turn to the passage for our learning today and my prayer & desire is that the Spirit would make all of us sensitive to what He is teaching us today from His word.

So, let’s turn to the passage for our learning today and my prayer & desire is that the Spirit would make all of us sensitive to what He is teaching us today from His word.

The Text

The Text

​Luke 13:1–9 ESVThere were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.