Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
We have been talking about Character.
Remember, we defined Character as:
—The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.
—Character is the sum total of what you think and believe.
We began by looking at how our character is effected by the people around us! We talked about how we can become desensitized to sin because of the company we keep.
Last night we saw that our Character is more important than our charisma.
We looked at how incredibly important our character is to the message we share.
Tonight we want to discover what our character is be built upon.
When I say the word “TRUTH” what do you think of?
[Let students answer]
The problem that we have as we walk through society is this—Many times our definition of Truth does not match their definition of truth.
So what are we to do when our definition of truth and the world’s definition of truth do not match?
You see, we have two choices:
We can become angry, aggressive, or defensive.
We can express our beliefs firmly, sometimes harshly, or even hatefully.
Or we can follow the example Jesus gave us and express our beliefs with compassion and love.
Remember, Jesus said that the world will know we are His disciples when they see our love for each other!
Now, there is another problem.
Often, no matter how we express our beliefs, those in opposition to our message will become angry, aggressive, defensive, or even hateful.
Many times they will seek to silence us—or cancel us.
They will seek to destroy our personal reputation, our credibility, and/or our platform.
The Truth of God
When Jesus was on this earth, He taught the people.
Those Jesus who had encounters with Jesus can be divided into a few categories.
Some became devoted followers.
These would include the disciples (except for maybe Judas), and a group of women who followed Him and often took care of His needs.
Another response was to come and see what Jesus was all about.
— They loved seeing the miracles.
— They loved hearing His stories.
— They loved being miraculously fed.
The third group went away sad because what Jesus asked them to do was too hard.
Luke gives us an example of this in the story of The Rich Young Ruler.
Jesus told this man that he lacked one thing.
He needed to go sell everything he had and come follow Jesus.
In Luke 18:23 we read some of the saddest words in scripture.
Luke tells us, “When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.”
Just like today, some of Jesus’ followers had a problem.
Many of those who said they believed in Him showed no evidence of their belief.
In other words, there was no change in their lives.
Jesus saw this.
So one day while he was speaking to the people He actually talked about this disconnect between their beliefs and their actions.
If you have your Bibles turn with me to John 8. We will begin with verse 31.
The first thing I want us to notice is to whom Jesus is speaking.
He is talking to people who believed in Him.
Tonight, let me begin by asking you a question:
Which one of our three groups are you in tonight?
Are you a follower of Jesus?
Are you just here looking to see what Jesus is all about?
Or are you one of those who wants nothing to do with Jesus?
If the answer to this question is, “I’m a follower of Jesus” a “Christian,” then my second question is:
What difference has Jesus made in your life?
If your answer to my first question is I’m here to see what Jesus is all about, then my second question to you is:
Are you sure you know Jesus at all?
Finally, if your answer is following Jesus costs too much, I don’t want anything to do with Him, then my second question is:
Are you sure, following Jesus is better than the alternative?
Some of you will look at the second part of this verse, and really believe following Jesus is too hard.
After all he says real disciples will hold to the teachings of Jesus.
Russ Perry was a youth pastor that used to bring his youth group to IMPACT.
He used to say, “Salvation is free; Discipleship is costly.”
Let’s continue looking at our passage.
Look at verse 32.
Let’s start with this idea: knowing truth is not something that simply happens “psychologically.”
The Biblical idea of “knowing the truth” is more a matter of the will or a choice we make.
The big problem is that people choose the lies of Satan rather than choosing God’s truth.
Look at Romans 1:25.
Back to John 8.
This boggled the mind of those listening to Jesus.
“Set us free?
Free from what?” Look at the next verse.
Now we miss the emphasis of what they are saying.
They are telling Jesus, “We don’t need to be freed from anything because we are not slaves to anyone or anything!
After all we are Jews!”
This is the same attitude I here from a lot of people today.
The don’t believe they need to be freed because they do not understand that they are in bondage to anyone or anything.
They don’t understand they are in need of salvation, because they don’t realize they are perishing!
In fact, today it is worse than that, because many will look at those committed to following Jesus and living according to God’s Word as being the ones that are enslaved.
As we look at this passage, I want you to ask yourself this question:
Who is actually enslaved?
That really is the question those listening to Him are asking.
Look at how Jesus answers there opposition His statement in verse 32, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
Tonight, I want you to realize that everyone one of us in this room is a slave!
That’s right!
We are all in slaves (servants) to someone!
We are either a slave to sin and satan, or we are a servant of God.
The lie of the devil is that following after God is a list of do’s and don’ts, rules and regulations; but following the ways of the world world is freedom from do’s and don’ts, or freedom from rules and regulations.
Satan wants us to believe following Jesus is restrictive, while follow the way of the World is freeing—Yet, NOTHING could be farther from the truth!
Jesus said exactly the opposite.
He said following after the world is being enslaved to sin, and ultimately to the master of sin which is satan!
While following Him was becoming a servant of a loving, caring Master—God.
So why is that we often gravitate to sin rather than gravitating to Jesus?
It is because of another problem every one of us has.
And that is that everyone of us is born into sin.
That’s why in Romans 3:23, Paul could say:
Okay, question:
Is there anyone in here who has NEVER done ANYTHING wrong?
Not one thing!
Now if someone is sitting there thinking, “I could say I’ve never done anything wrong,” you can’t because that’s a lie and so you just did something wrong!
Truly all of us have sinned!
And because of that sin we all fall short of God’s glory and we fall short of His perfect standard.
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