Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

[INTRODUCTION TO THE PASSAGE—PROP]

[prop] Our profession of faith in Jesus must be confirmed by our obedience to Jesus.

[illus] I took two preaching classes in seminary called “Proclaiming the Bible” and “Preaching Practicum.”

In both classes we learned the various aspects of sermon writing and delivery.

And in both classes we learned about the importance of the conclusion.

This can be one of the trickier parts of the sermon for the preacher, and some have even compared it to landing an airplane.

Of course, no flight is a good flight that doesn’t end with a safe landing, and many good sermons have been diminished by crash landings!

Some preachers can even sense the crash landing coming so they will approach the runway in order to land—i.e., they will approach the conclusion of the sermon in order to bring it to a close—but then they will throttle-up and circle the runway a few times more.

But this usually only delays the inevitable.

The preacher circling the runway might as well bring it on in.

It’s going to be rough, and there’s nothing to do but get it over with.

I know.

I’ve experienced it firsthand!

Jesus, the greatest preacher, however, never experienced any of this in his preaching.

As we look at the conclusion of his sermon in , we see that Jesus brings this sermon to a close with poignancy for his disciples.

He doesn’t circle the runway.

And this great sermon is not ruined by a crash landing at the end.

He brings the truth to land in the hearts of his hearers just as he intended.

But, he does make all the truth of this sermon crash into the hearts of his disciples.

That’s what any great conclusion does.

[EXPLANATION OF JESUS’ SERMON IN HIS TIME—CONTEXT & CIT]

At the conclusion of his sermon, Jesus in effect said to the large group of disciples gathered around him, “What now?

You’ve come to me.

You’ve heard me.

Now, will you obey me?”

The answer to that question would determine their eternal destiny.

Jesus said that they must obey him or else find themselves ruined when the flood comes.

bearing good spiritual fruit as his disciple required obeying what he said.

This was the exclamation point on everything Jesus said in this sermon— a sermon that began in .

[context] Jesus had just called out his 12 Apostles from the larger group of his disciples.

As Jesus came down with his newly appointed Apostles, there was a great multitude of people from all over who had come to Jesus to hear him and to be healed of their diseases ().

So, Jesus healed them and then began to preach ().

He began with blessings and curses.

Those things that made his disciples desperate for God were blessings even if they were unpleasant or painful.

Things like poverty, hunger, sorrow, and rejection.

On the other hand, those things that made them numb to their need for God were curses even if they were pleasant or fun.

Things like being rich, well-fed, jovial, and praised.

Then he spoke to them about loving their enemies and blessing them and praying for them.

Jesus said they must do to their enemies as they would want their enemies to do to them.

They must be merciful to their enemies just as God the Father had been merciful to them.

Next Jesus spoke to them about judging others.

Jesus didn’t tell them they were not allowed to make moral judgments, but he did forbid them to judge someone as unworthy of God’s grace.

No, Jesus actually called them to make moral judgments in this very sermon, but he did forbid them to judge someone as unworthy of God’s grace.

Jesus does forbid, however, judging someone as unworthy of God’s grace.

If his disciples truly understood the grace they had experienced, they would examine themselves first and never count someone as unworthy of the Gospel.

All of this was the good spiritual fruit that Jesus called for in —the passage we looked at last Sunday morning.

That good spiritual fruit would, however, only be produced by his disciples if they had hearts that treasured Jesus above all.

And one part of that fruit that revealed the condition of their hearts was the words that come out of their mouths.

The answer is fruit.

And last week we saw that one part of the fruit that reveals the condition of our hearts is the words that come out of our mouths.

As Jesus said in Luke 6:45, “…for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

However, another part of that fruit that revealed their heart’s condition is found in our passage this morning.

If was about spiritual fruit in terms of what’s said, is about spiritual fruit in terms of what’s done.

If talks about spiritual fruit in terms of what’s said, talks about spiritual fruit in terms of what’s done.

[cit] Professing Jesus had to be confirmed by obeying Jesus.

The question this morning comes down to, “Are we obeying Jesus or someone/something else?”

If we are praising Jesus and obeying Jesus, we are bearing good spiritual fruit!

If we are only praising Jesus but not obeying Jesus, we are headed for eternal ruin.

[CON]

[CIT]

The same is true for us.

[ TRANSITION TO JESUS SERMON IN OUR TIME—INTER & PROP]

[PROP] Professing Jesus had to be confirmed by obeying Jesus.

And the same is true for us!

[illus] Jack wanted to a hero, so he made up a story about being a marine who was taken prisoner during a bloody battle during the Korean War.

[Illus] transition leading from introduction to major ideas

At 71-years-old, Jack’s war stories grew until his uniform was decorated with a Bronze Star, Silver Star, and two Purple Hearts.

He marched in parades and gave talks to school children.

By forging discharge papers, he even got a special license plate for his car—a license plate reserved for wounded veterans.

But a veteran’s league became interested in Jack’s story and noticed Jack didn’t have any military records.

They also spotted numerous holes in Jack’s own testimony regarding his military service.

The veteran’s league began to investigate further, but Jack denied that he was an impostor for two years.

Finally, however, he confessed during an interview with a local newspaper.

He said, “You can’t imagine what I’m going through.

I really didn’t know how to shake this demon.

But I went to bed with it every night, and I looked at it in the mirror every morning.

I don’t want to meet my Maker with this on my heart.”

Here was a man who professed to be something he was not.

Here was a man who professed to be something he was not.

He made claims but he didn’t have deeds.

He didn’t want to meet his Maker with that on his conscious, so he came clean.

Perhaps some of us need to come clean this morning.

Maybe we’ve been professing Jesus but not obeying Jesus.

Maybe we’ve been calling Jesus “Lord, Lord,” but not doing what he has told us.

Jesus tells us in this passage that we don’t want to meet God on the day of judgement with that on our heart.