Sermon Tone Analysis
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Whenever you become a Christian, God miraculously gives you a new heart!
He takes out the heart of stone, a heart that doesn’t really have any interest in the things of God, doesn’t have any desire to obey Him, doesn’t have any feeling or love for Him, and He gives us a heart of flesh.
A heart that hungers for God, that wants to follow Jesus, that desires to obey Him and grow in our knowledge of Him!
But, if you’re a Christian this morning, if you’ve experienced this new birth, then you’ll know that there is still daily, moment by moment, a battle!
By nature we’re still so prone to foolishness!
Left to our own devices we’re like a car, that if you’re driving along on a straight road and you let go of the steering wheel, you won’t stay straight!
You start to veer to the left, and left long enough, you’ll crash!
But God knows that!
He remembers we are dust, He sees that we are weak!
And in His grace He doesn’t save us and then say ‘Ok you’re on your own now’.
Rather, He gives us His Spirit, and He speaks to us His Word!
And as His Spirit ministers to us His Word, we begin to change!
The parts of our lives that are bent, that are so prone to veer off track, He little by little straightens out.
Gradually remaking us into the image of His Son, it a work that takes a lifetime!
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
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We have been saved through faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone.
But that’s not where it ends, now God is at work in us, to make us like His Son, and the main means of that work is as His Spirit ministers His Word!
So this morning, let’s come humbly again before Him, and let’s listen to what He will say through this wise father as he speaks to his son.
Let’s come to the mirror of His Word, and be changed that bit more, through faith!
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Up until chapter 10 of Proverbs, the writer is wanting to draw us in, to create in us a hunger for wisdom, to wet our appetite!
And again here we see this, as the wise Father gives his son, and all of us great reason to turn our ears again to this Word!
Listen, because this truth is tried and tested (v.1-9)
We’re all constantly listening to something!
And what we pay most attention to, will have the biggest influence on what shapes us!
If we listen mostly to the media, the culture of our day, the lyrics of songs, the rants of celebrities, the agendas of tv programmes, then that will shape how you think and what you think.
If it’s our friends we listen to most, then depending on what kind of friends we have, that will be a huge influence on what we think and how we see things.
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals (1.
Cor.15:33).
If you have friends that gossip, talk about people behind their backs, criticize, then you can be sure that you will begin to be shaped in that way!
We’re all constantly listening to something!
But again in our passage this morning, we’re called along with this son to listen, to be attentive (pay attention), to the words that this wise father offers, and ultimately to the words that God offers!
Because only when they are the loudest in our minds and hearts, will we truly learn wisdom and gain insight!
In this first section we see that what the father is telling his son is not just something that originates with him!
But rather it has been passed down by his father also (v.3-4a)!
So we see Grandad, Dad, son here!
There is a generational passing on of truth, a discipling within the family!
Now that alone is a challenge for us!
I thought this week about my own children, and if I were to pass away soon, what would they remember as the main thing I taught them?
What would they recall as my main encouragement to them?
Work hard in your schooling, when you get the ball get your head up, always look for the person by themselves in the room and go to them, when you play with something put it away after you!!
All stuff that I want them to remember!
But would that be it?!
What about those you love, what would be the words that would stay with them, what would be the advice they’d hold, as most dear to you if you passed away?
Just look at what this Grandfather leaves with his son, and is now passed on…v.4-9...
True life is not found in the best exam results, the best career path, the popularity, the financial security, the husband or wife, the kids, the house, the health, the holidays.
Even though that’s often the voice we hear more than any and are shaped by! Rather this Grandfather is telling his son, life is found in these words!
So hold fast to them!
Like if you were drowning in a lake, and someone throws you in a life ring, and you grab that ring and you hold fast for all your worth!
You are not going to let it go, because if you know your life depends on it!
And just like a life ring, the way you benefit from it is you grab it!
You don’t have to be smart, you don’t have to have things all together, you don’t have understand how this ring works and the proper use of it!
You just have to grab it, and hold on to it, trust in it!
So it is with this wisdom that is on offer!
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.
‘What is takes is not brains or opportunity, but decision.
Do you want it?
Come and get it?
The offer is there for everyone of us this morning?
Do you want wisdom, do you want to walk in a way that pleases God, and enjoys the blessings that this brings?
Then grab the ring!
Make the decision!
By God’s grace decide in your heart right now, this is what I want, this is how I want my life to be spent!
And I’m prepared to let go of all else that I might get this!
Obviously for those here who are outside of Christ, that begins by recognizing that we’re drowning!
It starts with seeing we need rescued, and seeing that God in Christ Jesus has done everything that is needed for that rescue!
All we need to do is grab Him by faith!
Bow before Him as our Lord and Savior, ask Him to come and take control of our lives!
But for those of us in Christ already, we need to make that decision for wisdom constantly!
As we said at the beginning, we’re naturally foolish!
We need that continual work of shaping us, changing us, making us into the image of Jesus!
And in that, we must decide, each day, in each situation, ‘I want this!
It is only as I submit to God in His Word that I will truly know honor, beauty, safety, satisfaction!
Even if that means in this world it looks like shame, sacrifice, ridicule, abuse!’
Remember this is something the father is passing on to his son!
He’s lived it, He knows the reality of it!
It’s tried and tested, it’s proven advice and counsel!
Listen to it and know true life!!
Listen, because this truth is what keeps us from stumbling (v.10-19)
This father has led his son, he’s walked with him along the way, he’s taught him the value of wisdom and the effect it has on life.
But there comes a time when the father can no longer be by his side.
There comes a time when the Son has to make his own choices.
And the question is, will he listen and accept what he has been taught, or will he chart his own course?
Our culture hates the notion of following the counsel and instructions of others!
It sees it as weak, as a form of bondage (slavery).
If we want to be free we need to go our own way and not be influenced by other people, this is our life, and we need to live it!!
How foolish and arrogant to ignore tried and tested words, just so we can claim we are the captain of our own lives!
So we can come to the end and sing with sinatra, ‘I did it my way’!
It’s like picking up a bottle of bleach, reading the warning signs on the back of the bottle, and then saying ‘They aren’t going to tell me what to do’!
And then drinking down the bottle!
The father lays out 2 options in these verses, a path to pass on, and a path to pass by!
And if you notice in this section, stumble occurs three times.
If this son will hold on to these words he has been taught, if he will listen and be shaped by the instruction of his father, and the instruction of the Lord!
Then it will keep him from stumbling!
He will walk, he will run, and as he does he will be guarded!
He will know true life!
Again this doesn’t mean we’ll live lives free from trouble, trial, pain, failing!
The stumbling isn’t talking about the type of stumbling that we all deal with daily as we fall short of God’s glory!
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