Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

The last couple of months we have been studying through the Minor Prophets and we have seen some themes throughout the study.

Whenever the people do what they are supposed to do, they experience covenantal blessings.

Whenever they disobey God, though, they receive covenantal cursing.

The people of Israel are notorious for trying to do things their own way - and as we have seen in Hosea the people are punished accordingly.

We are going to take a couple of weeks off of Hosea and spend some time studying key Christian doctrines.

Around the Christmas season there are many things that we should be thankful for and this season is one that reminds us that our God sent His Son.

That is the thing that we should be most thankful for!

For some of us the concept of theology (Theos - God and logy - study of = the study of God) is a concept that can seem strange or mysterious.

It can seem difficult.

While some aspects of theology certainly are difficult to understand, must of theology is easily understood.

There are also some aspects of theology that are “essentials”.

The next couple of weeks we will spend some time looking at some of these essential Christian doctrines in order to both increase our knowledge of God and grow in obedience to God’s will.

Our text tonight focus on the doctrine of “Grace”.

As Christians, simply, the only appropriate word to describe the action of a Holy God reaching down from heaven to rescue and save sinners from eternal separation from Him is grace.

Sadly, grace and salvation are misunderstood by many people in our world.

Nearly every person falls into one of 3 camps regarding salvation.

Universalism, Inclusivism, Exclusivism.

Universalism - Very popular with modern people as it states that all roads lead to heaven.

One modern advocate of universalism is John Hick, who states, “The basic moral teachings of all religions is the same.

It constitutes the moral ideal.”

Many people follow Hick’s line of thought.

All religions are essentially the same with a slightly different flavor.

Inclusivism - These people say that Jesus is the only way but it is possible to be saved without trusting in Him for salvation, personally.

Even though other religions might not know Jesus personally, the truth that they do possess is adequate enough to save them.

Essentially, you can tell these “anonymous” Christians by the good deeds that they do.

This is a classic works based salvation but it adds that you don’t even have to believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved.

You are saved just by being a good, genuine, faithful, religious person.

Exclusivism - The traditional, orthodox position that maintains that Jesus Christ is the only way one can be saved.

You must have a personal relationship with the Son of God.

Only in Him can you be saved.

This is the view that Southern Baptists maintain and advocate.

That Christ is Lord and Savior, but He is only Lord of those who call upon His name.

There are several texts of Scripture that talk about salvation and grace: talks about the spiritual rebirth, talks about being justified by faith in God, talks about being reconciled to God, talks about being delivered from the curse of the law, (as we will cover next year!)

talks about how Christ is our merciful and faithful high priest and atones for our sin.

shows us God gives humanity grace by bringing salvation to all men.

Let’s read this text:

Grace shows us how we should live (11-12)

Right from the get go in verse 11 we see that God’s grace has come to us.

It has appeared!

God’s grace towards us is based solely on His love and our total inability to meet His standards.

God’s grace is a gift that we do not deserve and a gift that we can never earn on our own.

Grace is foundational to salvation according to .

Some Christians will argue the second half of this verse regarding who is saved because states that the grace of God brings salvation to all men.

Some people state that this means that all people are saved - this leads to universalism.

There are some Christians who advocate such a view.

They say that a loving God would never send anyone to hell and that everyone gets to go to heaven.

As we discussed on Wednesday evening for our Trinity study, this is a view that the Mormons have been heavily influenced by and one that Joseph Smith and his family subscribed to in some ways.

The grace of God has appeared (aorist, past tense) and is given for all men indiscriminately (Jew, Gentile, slave, free, man, woman).

The grace of God was revealed and personified in Jesus Christ.

Not just in His birth and coming to the earth but also in His entire life, His death, resurrection and ascension which accomplished salvation that is now offered to all men.

Grace has come to us, today.

God is a saving God and He is still in the business of saving souls!

Grace is active and powerful.

It sustains, strengthens and produces thanksgiving and brings glory to God.

It also enables us to live holy and godly lives.

Grace, according to verse 12, changes people.

It changes us from ungodliness to righteous living.

Verse 12 shows how grace leads to change.

God’s grace changes us from the inside out to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to say yes to godly living.

We are quick to acknowledge that grace saves, but church grace also transforms.

Grace transforms sinners into saints.

It transforms us from enemies of God into a part of His family.

Guess when this happens?

Do we have to wait a decade or until we go on to glory?

Nope!

We experience this in this present age.

We know that we will experience these things fully in the future age, but we experience salvation and the grace of God now, in this present age.

Grace teaches us where to look (13)

Not only does grace show us how we should live, but it shows us where we should look!

We know that this world is not our home.

It is not our final destination.

With that in mind, we must look heavenward.

We live with hope knowing that our Savior will return one day.

In the incarnation the Son of God brought grace to mankind, in His second coming He will come with glory surrounding Him.

As it has been said, as Christians we are to live with our eyes fixated heavenward to Christ because He is our only hope.

We look to Him today.

CS Lewis in Mere Christianity wrote,

“I am ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.”

That is the one thing we must not say.

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.

He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

You must make your choice.

Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.

You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.

But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher.

He has not left that open to us.

He did not intend to.

Lea, T. D., & Griffin, H. P. (1992). 1, 2 Timothy, Titus (Vol.

34, p. 314).

Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

We don’t look for a coming angelic member or a future teacher, we look forward for the coming Messiah!

Understanding God’s grace shows us our desperate need for a Savior and the fact that we know that He will return again one day.

As Lewis noted, simply saying that Jesus was a good teacher is not an option that He left us.

He is either a lunatic or Lord, there is no middle ground.

You can’t pick and choose what you want Jesus to be!

Grace teaches us who is Lord (14)

Salvation can be discussed in 3 different tenses:

past - justification - delivered from the penalty of sin

present - sanctification - delivered from power of sin