Sermon Tone Analysis

Deuteronomy 5:6-10

Introduction

Over the next ten sessions, we are going to lay the groundwork for God’s work among us.

We are going to focus on God’s blueprint for a healthy New Testament church.

I will be using an outline developed by Dr. Mark Dever, Pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C.  Dr.

Dever has granted me permission to use his outline in developing this series of messages.

Dr.

Dever lists nine marks of a healthy church, to which I have added worship.

They are:

A New Testament Church Has a Biblical Theology

A New Testament Church Has a Biblical Understanding of Worship

A New Testament Church Will Preach the Word

A New Testament Church Has a Biblical Understanding of the Gospel

A New Testament Church Has a Biblical Understanding of Conversion

A New Testament Church Has a Biblical Understanding of Evangelism

A New Testament Church Has a Biblical Understanding of Church Membership

A New Testament Church Has a Biblical Understanding of Church Discipline

A New Testament Church Has a Biblical Understanding of Church Leadership

A New Testament Church Has a  Biblical Understanding of Church Growth

\\ What we believe about God is very important.

Americans have created designer faiths, their own unique religions; long-held beliefs have become reshaped, even left out.

How relevant are your beliefs to your daily life?

Does it matter whether you believe what you and those around you say, even in church?

How important are beliefs anyway?

“Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.”  A.W. Tozer

“The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.”

(C.H. Spurgeon, Sermons Vol1, No. 1)

Eleven facts about the God of the Bible…

1A.

The God of the Bible is an All-Knowing God - Omniscience

Psalm 139:4 (NASB) 4Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

“The MODE of God's knowledge we cannot comprehend.

Scripture and reason unite in teaching that his thoughts are not as our thoughts.”

(J.L. Dagg, /Manuel of Theology Reprint/, (Harrisonburg, VA: Gano Books, 1990))

2A.

The God of the Bible is an Ever-Present God - Omnipresent

Psalm 139:8 (NASB) If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

Proverbs 15:3 (NASB) The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.

\\ 3A.

The God of the Bible is an All Powerful God - Omnipotence

Job 42:2 (NASB) “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.

Matthew 19:26 (NASB) And looking at /them/ Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

4A.

The God of the Bible is a Never Changing God - Immutable

Hebrews 13:8 (NASB) Jesus Christ /is/ the same yesterday and today and forever.

Isaiah 46:10 (NASB) 1Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

“God is perpetually the same.

He is not composed of any substance or material, but is spirit-pure, essential, and ethereal spirit-and therefore he is immutable.

He remains everlastingly the same.

There are no furrows on his eternal brow.

No age hath palsied him- no years have marked him with the mementoes of their flight- he sees ages pass, but with him, it is ever /now/.

He is the great I AM-the Great Unchangeable.”

(Spurgeon, Sermons Vol. 1, No. 1)

5A.

The God of the Bible is a Self-Existent God - Eternal

Psalm 90:2 (NASB) Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

“The eternity of God has been defined, existence without beginning, without end, and without succession.”

(J.L. Dagg, /Manuel of Theology Reprint/, (Harrisonburg, VA: Gano Books, 1990)).

\\ 6A.

The God of the Bible is a Limitless God - Infinite

Job 11:7-8 (NASB) “Can you discover the depths of God?  Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?

8“/They are/ high as the heavens, what can you do?  Deeper than Sheol, what can you know?

7A.

The God of the Bible is a Creating God

*God created the world*; He made something from nothing, made man in His image.

*God created a special people* in the world; He calls Abraham, beginning the story of a special people.

Sound teaching must include a commitment to biblical doctrines, such as the chosen people.

It is undeniable that God chose a people (whether or not -we- think that's fair).

*God is the great initiator, creator, and beginner of our faith.*

(Hebrews 12:2)

8A.

The God of the Bible is a Holy God

Psalm 5:4 (NASB) For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.

Isaiah 5:16 (NASB) …And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.

A covenant is a personal relationship with commitment--God has done this with His people, and this is the context for his passion about holiness, because God is holy and we are not.

Everyone has sinned and has a problem with how to relate to God.  At-one-ment is His provided solution, God's revelation of how to come to know Him, even given our sin

\\ 9A.

The God of the Bible is a Loving God

1 John 4:8b(NASB) “…God is Love…”

Exodus 34:6-7 (NASB) Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave /the guilty/ unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

How could He forgive wickedness and still not leave the guilty unpunished?

Because God judged wickedness in a particular person——the hope for redemption, the Savior—He can forgive our sin.

Christ came as the one by whom we have a restored relationship with God.

Why then did he die?

Christ died to fulfill the promise of a deliverer, dying in our place (Isaiah 53).

This is the ultimate expression of God’s love.

10A.

The God of the Bible is a just God

God applies righteous consequences equally to everyone

Job 34:12 (NASB) “Surely, God will not act wickedly, And the Almighty will not pervert justice.

\\ 11A.

The God of the Bible is a Sovereign God

*God can do whatever He wills*

Psalm 135:5-6 (NASB) For I know that the LORD is great And that our Lord is above all gods.

6Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.

*God’s sovereignty is consistent* - it will always be in harmony with His Nature and Attributes

*God’s sovereignty is absolute* – there is nothing outside of His control

*God’s sovereignty is complete* - He has determined everything that has or will happen, yet has done so in such a way that man has true choice.

All of creation is involved in the sovereign love of God.

Christians have always had a hope that extends beyond our own power.