Sermon Tone Analysis

/Memory Lane is not a bad place to take a stroll every now and then.

/

/            Once in awhile my thoughts take a trip back to the Onion City, Vidalia, GA.

Back to the main thoroughfare through town known as “The Strip”, where teens still cruise, wasting their time and their parents’ money.

Back on the other side of town where my family lived in a 3 bedroom house on Cadillac Drive in a subdivision called Blueberry Hills.

Back where my brother Randy and I raced our bikes up and down the pavement and dirt roads.

Back to yards I used to mow for $5, and the house where my first real girlfriend once lived.

The church where I first gave my heart to Jesus is not much different from the first time I worshipped there.

I have no desire to go back but when I take this trip, I’m reminded of how far God has brought me./

/ Your map of Memory Lane walks past different addresses, but I’m sure you can look back on where you’ve been and be reminded of how good God has been to you.

/

/This is what I want to do tonight—to take a little stroll not just down memory lane, but down blessing boulevard.

Our map will be *Psalm 103:1-5*, where the Psalmist begins by singing: \\ /*Psalm 103:1-2* /Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

2Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: /

*PRAYER*

*            *Walk with me past these places where God has brought us, beginning with

*1.* *The Courthouse (v.

3a)  */Bless the Lord…Who forgives /[pardons]/ all your iniquities,…/

/            /Courtrooms usually look smaller on TV than in real life.

But if you’re the one standing before the judge, waiting for your sentence, I’m sure that room gets a little larger!

Most of us never face that situation in an earthly court.

But the psalmist reminds us that if you’re a Christian, you /have /stood before the Great Judge, and heard the beautiful words /not guilty.

/

            God does not acquit us because we are innocent.

The Bible clearly declares us all guilty of sin in the first degree.

Every one of us stands before God’s bench of perfect justice deserving eternal death in hell.

But the psalmist reminds us the same God of Justice is also the God of mercy, and He Himself provides a way for us to be declared /Not guilty.

/

*Is 53:5-6 */5//But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities…6All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all./

*2 Co 5:21 */For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him./

 

Jesus did something for us that cannot be done in a human court of law- He paid our debt, He served our sentence, He was executed for our crimes.

All who trust Him can stand before a holy God and be declared /Not guilty.

/Later, in *v.

11-12*, the psalmist sings (*read*).

A convicted criminal might walk with dread past the courthouse, knowing that he will pay the penalty for his crimes.

You and I can walk past God’s courthouse singing the song of forgiveness, because God declares us /Not Guilty /for Jesus’ sake.

When Billy Graham was driving through a small southern town, he was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding.

Graham admitted his quilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.

The judge asked, “Guilty, or not guilty?

”When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied, “That’ll be ten dollars—a dollar for every mile you went over the limit.”

Suddenly the judge recognized the famous minister.

“You have violated the law,” he said.

“The fine must be paid—but I am going to pay it for you.”

He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner!

“That,” said Billy Graham, “is how God treats repentant sinners!”[i]

            /God is still forgiving sinners today.

If you trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you can walk past the courthouse not with fear, but with thanksgiving.

Let’s walk on a little further to /

*2.* *The Hospital (v.

3b).

*/Bless the Lord Who…heals all your diseases;/

            I have discovered that how you see the hospital depends on whether you are there as a visitor, a worker, or a patient.

If you’re a doctor or nurse, all of those computer screens and hypodermic needles and medicine make sense to you.

You know what’s going on.

If you’re a visitor, you see all the busy people buzzing around to help make sick people better.

But when you’re a patient, sometimes you wonder exactly what’s going on.

You wonder if the doctor and nurses /really /know what they’re talking about.

/Mind if I see your grades from med school?

What’s this shot for?

Why are you giving me this pill?/

The /most /important question: /when am I going to get out of here?/

/            /Now I am /very /thankful for doctors and nurses and other health professionals.

But even the best doctor will tell you that they cannot heal you.

They can treat symptoms, make you feel better, but ultimately there is only one Healer: /God.

/God can and does use doctors.

But the psalmist tells us /God/ is the Great Physician Who /heals all your diseases.

/

Don’t make this verse promise /too /much.

The Psalmist is not asserting it’s /always/ God’s will to heal /all/ our diseases /physically /in /this/ life; that runs counter to the overall teachings of Scripture and to our actual experience.

God /can/ and often /does/ give healing in answer to prayer; but not always.

He does not always heal us this side of heaven.

But what you /can /count on is that all of God’s children are healed /eventually.

/If we could look into heaven right now, we’d see every saint of God who suffered sickness on earth is now healthy, happy, and disease free.

There’s no cancer in heaven, no heart disease, no diabetes.

God will heal us in this life or through the process of death, but in either case /“by His stripes we are healed”/ (*Isa.

53:5*).

/Do you need healing?

There is only One Who can heal your body, your mind, and your soul.

Don’t be afraid to ask Him for healing.

But also don’t be afraid to trust Him for the ultimate healing in heaven.

/

     James Packer tells about a patient who had an acute abdominal pain.

The doctor was called in and quickly gave him a pill.

A friend standing nearby said, “Doctor, will it make him better?”

The doctor responded, “No, but it’s gonna give him a fit, and I can cure fits.”[ii]

/            Doctors cannot cure everything, but God can, and God will.

Walk past the hospital, the psalmist says, and remember how God has healed you, how He can still heal you, and how one day He will touch you with the ultimate healing in heaven.

Well, let’s keep walking to a place that is not so pretty:  /

*3.* *The Slave Market (v.

4a).

*/Bless the Lord…Who redeems your life from the pit…/

*     *During the early part of the 19th century, and young man went to New Orleans and saw a slave being offered to the highest bidder in an auction.

He later wrote, “There was a rising hatred inside of me against slavery, and I swore if someday I could do something about it, I would do something about it.”

This man later became president Abraham Lincoln who made good his words by signing the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in the USA.

[iii]

     Slavery is one of the ugliest crimes that can be committed against another human being.

It was particularly horrible in the ancient world, where cruel masters threw slaves into deep holes where they sank in brackish mud.

The holes were sealed shut, and the slave was left hungry, terrified in the darkness amid rats and rodents.

The only time the hole was opened up was to show off the slave to a potential buyer.

But there was always one slender thread of hope for the sinking slave: the hope of a redeemer.

Someone- a relative, or friend- could come and buy back the slave’s freedom.

When this happened, that slave was /redeemed/ or bought out of slavery and set free.

The psalmist declares God has redeemed us from our slavery.

Slavery to what?

None of us have ever been put in chains or down in a hole.

But Jesus says we are all slaves.

*John 8:34,36* /…“Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.