Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm 39:7–11 (ESV)

7 “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?

My hope is in you.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions.

Do not make me the scorn of the fool! 9 I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.

10 Remove your stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of your hand.

11 When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath!

Selah

Romans 4:1–25 (ESV)

1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” 9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised?

For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

10 How then was it counted to him?

Was it before or after he had been circumcised?

It was not after, but before he was circumcised.

11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.

20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”

23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also.

It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Introduction

As I have already indicated there are differing views about the Millennium.

Our task is to seek to expound the Scriptures faithfully and reverently seeking the aid of the Holy Spirit as we do so.

Today we come look at one of the Millennium views in particular - Dispensational Pre-Millenniumism.

1. Millennium Views

Slide

a. Post-Millenniumism

Postmillennialism places the coming of Christ after the millennium, which it conceives as a spiritual presence of Christ working in and through His church to give a golden age, a period of unexampled prosperity in its ministry.

Cairns, A. (2002).

In Dictionary of Theological Terms (p.

279).

Ambassador Emerald International.

Slide

b.

Pre-Millenniumism

Premillennialists place the coming of Christ before the millennium, which they see as the personal reign of Christ on the earth.

Cairns, A. (2002).

In Dictionary of Theological Terms (p.

279).

Ambassador Emerald International.

Slide

c. A-Millenniumism

Amillennialism denies the reality of a thousand-year reign, either in the sense in which the premillennialist or the postmillennialist conceives it.

The theory rests upon a totally symbolic interpretation of Rev. 20:2–7 and the same type of treatment of the “millennial” passages of the OT.

Most present-day amillennialists view these as descriptions of the blessedness the church now experiences.

Cairns, A. (2002).

In Dictionary of Theological Terms (p.

279).

Ambassador Emerald International.

Slide

2. Dispensationalism

a. Meaning

Dispensationalists are those who hold that God has tested man again and again, in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of His will.

Each period of testing they call a dispensation.

They normally claim that there are seven such dispensations: innocence, conscience, human government, promise, law, grace, and the Kingdom.

Each of these is “regarded as a new test of the natural man, and each ends in judgement” (C.

I. Scofield, Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth, p. 20).

Dispensationalists further claim that each dispensation is distinct from all the others and cannot commingle with them.

It is only by grasping this “dispensational truth” (as it is usually referred to by dispensationalists) that we can “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Tim.

2:15).

Cairns, A. (2002).

In Dictionary of Theological Terms (p.

135).

Ambassador Emerald International.

b.

History

Some of the early Church held a Pre-Millennium view known as Chiliasm also various others at different times.

Became more popular in 1830 when a series of 'Prophetic Conferences' were held attended by J N Darby, Plymouth Brethren and Bible translator, Dwight L Moody of Moody and Sankey.

Influenced by a prophecy in tongues at the Catholic Apostolic Church in Regent Square, London where Edward Irving was the Pastor.

They believed in the continuing role of Apostles and Prophets.

Later in 1909 the Dispensationalist view became increasingly popular with the publication of the Schofield Reference Bible which advocates Dispensationlist views.

3. Teaching

Pre-milleniumism and Dispenationalism are not are totally identical and there is not full agreement amongst those holding these views.

However there are sufficient areas of agreement to warrant us considering them together.

Slide

a. Seven Dispensations

1. Creation - Innocence

2. Fall - Conscience

3. Noah - Human Government

4. Abraham - Promise

5. Moses - Law

6. Christ - Age of Grace (The Church Age)

7. Christ's Second Coming (Bodily) - The Kingdom (The Millennium)

Slide

b.

Dispensations 6 and 7

i.