Sermon Tone Analysis

God is the Starting Point (vv.

3-4)

God graciously gives all good things (v.

3a)

God gives beyond our limits of understanding

Eph.

3:20 “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us”

Anything good we have or experience is becasue of God’s graciousness

We deserve nothing but judgement

Romans 1:24-32 “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!

Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.

For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.

They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

He has given us sufficient heart change for obedience

1 Cor 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

God is the source of salvation (v.

3b)

Saving knowledge of God is how we have been granted

Matt 7:21-23 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

God is the initiator

We are called by God to salvation

John 3:27 “John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”

Salvation is available to the everyone

2 Pet 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

God is the source of obedience (v.

4)

God promised salvation and heart change

Ezekiel 36:27 “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Jer 4:4 “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.””

Deu 30:6 “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

We become a new creation with a new nature

Rom 6:1-4 “What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means!

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

We are saved into obedience

Rom 6:5-12 “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.”

Christians should show fruits of being a new creation

God called us to reach the world

In 1 Peter, Peter writes that we are strangers and aliens in this world.

We should look differently for the purpose of reaching the lost which is ultimately to glorify God!

We Have a Responsibility (vv.

5-7)

Example of basketball team working hard in a winning system vs. working hard in a losing system.

Hard work in the correct context will win.

Faith

Beginning point of salvation

Virtue

“Moral excellence”

Above reproach

Knowledge

Different than first knowledge

Cognitive knowledge

Well studied

Self-Control

Practicing the person you are based on previous supplements

Steadfastness

“Perseverance”

Continuing the practice

Godliness

“True religion” or “true worship”

Having proper focus

Brotherly affection

“Brotherly kindness”

John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Love

The ultimate consummation of salvation

Matt 22:36-40 ““Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the great and first commandment.

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””

Fruitfulness is the Purpose (vv.8-11)

We do not want to look fruitful but be fruitful

Mark 11:12-14 “On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.

And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it.

When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”

And his disciples heard it.”

Mark 11:20-26 “As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look!

The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”

And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”