Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning I want us to think about the idea of blessedness or happiness?

Three time in just eight verses Paul draws our attention to the idea of blessing or the one who is blessed.

V. 6- just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works

V. 7- Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven

V. 8- blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin

The root idea of these words, blessing or blessed, is the idea of being happy.

Happiness, or rather the pursuit of happiness, is the drug of our culture.

It is sought after on every street corner and every back alley.

The allusive opiate that is happiness has made addicts of us all.

How does one find happiness, true happiness?

The worlds answer to that question is a malignant cancer that eats away at the very soul of the individual.

The world will tell you this lie, “Man is basically good and inherent in that idea is that authenticity (true joy) is found within man himself.”

Anything that hinders or restrains natural human instincts must be destroyed.

In order for humans to be truly happy they must become the most authentic versions of themselves.

Perhaps the most famous example of this kind of philosophy comes from a man named Friedrich Nietzsche in is madman passage where he poetically states, “God is dead.

God remains dead.

And we have killed him.”

According to Nietzsche in order for you to be happy you have to throw off any external moral restraint from your life.

So in killing God, you take on the responsibility of being god yourself, of becoming the author of your own knowledge and your own ethics—and ultimately your own happiness.

Nietzsche was not a fan of Christianity.

According to him Christianity embodies the very hatred of life and of living, it desires to subjugate the truly noble and strong, it makes men and women sick, and it dis-values everything that is vital and strong and natural.

Christianity was morally repugnant for Nietzsche.

The irony is that Nietzsche suffered from sever depression, eventually dementia, and ultimately died of pneumonia.

In short his life was anything but happy.

The problem is that our society has bought into the poison pill that Nietzsche peddled- that true happiness comes when you throw off external restraint and become the most authentic you possible.

What makes you the most happy?

Does sex make you happy?

Don’t let yourself become restrained by an outdated notion that God intended sexual intimacy to be enjoyed within the confines marriage.

Or, throw off the idea that natural relationships are designed by God to be between an man and a woman.

Just do what makes you happy- be your own god.

Or, tired of being a man?

Do what makes you happy and transition into being a woman.

Or even better throw off the repressive label of gender all together.

Become your most authentic self and you will find happiness.

The problem is, it’s all a lie!

Any attempt to find happiness outside of God is futile.

It will never fully satisfy.

It’s like a well with a giant hole in the bottom, it may hold a little bit a water for a short amount of time, but it will eventually run dry.

So too is any attempt to find happiness in yourself- you will find things that bring you pleasure for a short period of time, but it will eventually leave you dry and thirsty and it will never satisfy.

Where can you find true happiness?

Paul gives us the answer to that question in our text.

True happiness is found in the doctrine of justification.

For the one who understands and participates in doctrine of justification this one will find true happiness, he or she will be blessed.

Why can the doctrine of justification make you truly happy?

I.

Because justification is based on God’s promise not our performance (vv.

1-5)

Justification is the source of happiness for all because its application is not dependent on you.

It is freely offered apart from your ability to earn it.

It is a free gift given by grace alone and received by faith alone.

A. Salvation has always been received through faith (vv.

1-3)

In the mind of God, salvation has always been based upon the sacrificial death of Christ.

Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

So in the eyes of God salvation has always been unmerited- it is something God does for us not something we do for ourselves.

And the receiving of God’s salvation, the unmerited gift of God, has always been done through faith alone.

“Salvation always has been through faith in God’s provision, although the content of a believer’s faith was determined by the extent to which the gospel had been revealed.”

—Myron Houghton

What did Abraham believe?

To what extent had the gospel been revealed to Abraham?

Abraham believed God’s Word, he put his faith in what God had revealed to Him concerning the gospel, and God counted His faith as righteousness.

This is the essence of justification.

B. Saving faith is an objective faith (vv.

4-5)

Many people today are unsure of their salvation because they question if their faith is good enough.

Did I say the right words when I prayed?

Did I put enough emotion into my prayer for it to be effective.

These kinds of questions fundamentally misunderstand saving faith.

Saving faith is not subjective!

It’s not about saying the magic words or shedding the right amount of tears- its not subjective, its not dependent on you.

Saving faith is all about the object of your faith.

Notice the objective nature of faith in v. 5- “believes IN HIM who justifies the ungodly.”

The one who is justified is the one who places their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The object of their faith is God.

What was the object of Abraham’s faith?

What did Abraham put his faith in?

Abraham believed God! God was the object of his faith.

In what way?

God gave Abraham a promise and Abraham placed his faith in God’s promise- the promise the object or the resting point of his faith.

What is the object of our faith?

The gospel!

God has revealed to us in His Word that we can have our sins forgiven because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became a man, lived a perfect life, died on a cross for our sins, was buried, and on the third day he rose again.

And if we believe, if we make the death, burial, and resurrection the object of our faith- we will be saved.

It’s not about the quality of your faith (don’t put your faith in your faith).

It’s about the object of your faith- the one who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

Illustration: Have you ever gone ice skating on a lake?

What is the danger of going skating on a lake?

You might fall into the freezing cold waters.

So most of the time you wait until there is 6+ inches of ice on the lake before you go skating.

When you step out onto that lake what are you trusting in to keep you from falling into the freezing cold water?

You are putting your faith in the ice- it is the object of your faith.

It doesn’t matter if you are an Olympic level ice skater or if you can barely stand up on your skates.

Your ability to skate has nothing to do with falling into the water.

It is entirely dependent upon the structure of the ice.

So your salvation is not dependent upon your ability to prayer the right kind of prayer.

Your salvation is dependent on what you place your faith in- the object of your faith.

In order for you to be saved you must believe in Him who justifies the ungodly.

You must put your faith in Christ alone as the object of your faith!

C. Objective faith includes the element of trust (vv.

20-25)

What kind of faith will God accept as legitimate faith?

Or what elements make up objective faith?

The bible states that even the demons BELIEVE- and yet demons are not saved.

Maybe you have heard people say, I’m saved I believe in God.