Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction|

Title: The Seven Deadly Sins

Text:

Theme: Breaking God’s Heart

Series: Wise Guy: Life Lessons from the Book of Proverbs

Introduction|

Attention:

We often use the following expression: “I hate it when someone__________?” Personally, I hate it when people complain about everything and are not willing to do anything!

Anyone have something that just makes us mad?

Need Element:

Due to our personality and character, we have things that really bother us.

God also hates some things that people do in their lives.

He wants his children to emulate Him.

Background:

Solomon is having a heart to heart session with his son to help him know and understand biblical wisdom.

Textual Idea:

Solomon reminds his son that God hates unbiblical actions

Big Idea:

God loves those who practice biblical actions

Interrogative:

What type of actions does God love?

Outline|

I. God loves a humble attitude—“A proud look.”

Explanation:

The idea of a “proud look” is a manifestation of arrogance.

This position of arrogance stems from an attitude of the heart.

If God hates pride and arrogance, God loves those who are humble and lowly.

Humility has two main audiences: 1) the heavenly audience (God) and 2) the earthy audience (man).

Illustration:

A minister, a Boy Scout, and a computer expert were the only passengers on a small plane.

The pilot came back to the cabin and said that the plane was going down, but there were only three parachutes and four people.

The pilot added, “I should have one of the parachutes because I have a wife and three small children.”

So he took one and jumped.

The computer whiz said, “I should have one of the parachutes because I am the smartest man in the world, and everyone needs me.”

So he took one and jumped.

The minister turned to the Boy Scout and with a sad smile, said, “You are young, and I have lived a rich life, so you take the remaining parachute, and I’ll go down with the plane.”

The Boy Scout said, “Relax, Reverend, the smartest man in the world just picked up my knapsack and jumped out!”

Argumentation:

Why does God hate pride?

God hates pride because it goes against his very nature as a good and benevolent God.

Arrogance says: “I do not need God!” Humility says: “I am nothing without God and need him more than anything else!”

Application:

We can make two points of application from this phrase.

First, we must exhibit humility before God.

The Psalmist says: “you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down” ().

We must remember that God honors those who are humble and resists those who are proud ().

Secondly, we must exhibit humility before others.

One writer says: “The Lord will humble the proud who set themselves above others and deal with them in a high-handed way.”

Pride will destroy your marriage, ministry, family, friendships, and relationship with God.

II.

God loves honest speech—“a lying tongue.”

Explanation:

The idea of a lying tongue is someone who continually lies about everything.

The medical world defines these people as “Pathological Liars” with “psychopathic personality.

This person has no “no regard for truth” One writer makes the following observation about this type of person: “To lie is to distort reality for one’s own purposes and bespeaks a refusal to submit to norms of right and wrong; by lying, one seeks to rearrange not just individual facts but one just places in the world and so avoid having to live by the normal rules of life.”

Illustration:

“On his way to school one day, a young man found two canvas sacks lying in the street.

When he looked inside, he was amazed to see that the sacks were full of money—$415,000, in fact!

When he returned the money to the Princeton Armored Service, he received a reward of $1,000.

The youth, however, was unhappy and said he had expected a larger reward.

“I don’t understand it,” he complained.

“If I had to do it over again, I’d probably keep the money.”

Argumentation:

Why does God hate a lying tongue?

God hates Sin and lying breaks God’s law as revealed in Scripture and morality!

God plainly says: “thou shalt not Lie!”

Application:

We must seek to embrace honesty in every area of life!

We must learn to tell the truth in our conversations, business, ministry, etc.

III.

God loves and values life—“hands that shed innocent blood.”

Explanation:

The word shed is a word picture of pouring something out.

This word is used to describe the act of atonement when the High Priest would pour out the blood upon the Altar ().

However, the key phrase, within the text, is innocent blood.

Innocent blood is those who do not deserve to die based upon their actions because they have not done anything wrong.

In the context of the passage, this person is “one who would be prone to murder if circumstances were conducive.”

This description reveals that this person has a “lack of control. . .

[and a] lack of regard for the value of human life.”

Illustration:

“The price of human life has been variously computed.

The estimate—depending on the context and risk factors—ranges from twenty-eight thousand dollars to $33 billion.

In referring to his book, Valuing Life: Public Police Dilemmas, Steven Rhoads of the University of Virginia cited a number of approaches to the problem, including: “high-risk jobs, the effects of regulation from federal agencies, the discount savings approach and how much people are willing to spend to save their lives.”

Rhoads suggested that in light of differences in pay between high-risk and low-risk jobs and figuring in inflation and other variables, the value of a human life works out to be around four-hundred thousand dollars.”

Argumentation:

Why does God love and value human life?

God loves and values human life because humanity is made in his image.

The Bible tells us that God “formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (, ESV).

Application:

We must learn to value human life.

We ought to fight for those who do not have a voice.

We must fight for the foreigner seeking asylum.

We must also fight for the homeless who are helpless.

Along with the foreigner and the homeless, we must fight for the unborn within the womb.

The reborn ought to fight for those who do not have a voice.

IV.

God loves a renewed mind—“heart that deviseth wicked imaginations.”

Explanation:

The word imaginations means the thoughts of humanity.

In the field of hermeneutics, the rule of first-usage helps determine the understanding of a word within the Biblical narrative.