Before / After Picture of the People of God

Driving home: Well, in the passage before us this morning, we have a spirit, inspired, verbal before and after picture. It is a before and after description of the people of God.

An analogy of home renovation companies using 'before and after' pictures of houses (cracking paint vs. new vinyl siding) to persuade homeowners to buy their product, illustrating the persuasive power of such contrasts.

Now those in our society who are involved in the work of the Holy Spirit and seeking to sell us their goods or their services are well aware of the fact that before and after pictures of their given product are a very powerful persuasive. I doubt there's a homeowner here or someone who even rents a building to live in that has not seen the before and after pictures sent out by some home renovating company. And in the midst of all this, and in the midst of all this, in the before picture, you'll see the house with the paint cracking and peeling and blotchy. And because they're trying to sell yo...

3:44 - 5:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Well, in the passage before us this morning, we have a spirit, inspired, verbal before and after picture. It is a before and after description of the people of God.

An analogy of skincare products using 'before and after' pictures of women (crow's feet vs. lineless skin) to appeal to concerns about aging, further demonstrating the persuasive power of visual contrasts.

They're trying to sell women whose crow's feet are beginning to look more like the feet of a duck. And the before picture shows this middle-aged woman and her crow's feet deeply edged along the sides of her eyes. And then the after picture shows how lineless she looks after she's used the product for three months. And if you've begun to be concerned about the crow's feet creeping along the side of your eyes, that before and after contrast has a very powerful appeal.

5:00 - 5:37 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Well, in the passage before us this morning, we have a spirit, inspired, verbal before and after picture. It is a before and after description of the people of God.

An analogy of weight loss programs using 'before and after' pictures to advertise their effectiveness, reinforcing the idea that such contrasts draw people in and make them desire the 'after' state.

Even though everything tells you it can't work that well, you still look and say, what could it be? Or it may be that some of you who struggle with the crow's feet and struggle with keeping off the pounds have seen a certain weight loss program advertised, how? With the before and the after pictures. And they may not have a lot of text, but if they've got three or four groups of pictures with the before and the after, you find your eyes lingering on the text which tells you what product is going to change you from someone that as you look at the advertisement you fit more in the picture.

5:38 - 6:18 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He identifies 1 Peter 2:10 as a 'spirit-inspired, verbal before and after picture' of the people of God, noting that it's not for marketing but to deepen believers' understanding…

A metaphor from Isaiah 55, where God stoops to the image of a street hawker, offering grace freely, to convey the freeness, fullness, and sincerity of His gospel offers.

And this verbal before and after picture is not set before us to sell us anything. God is not in the business of marketing His grace. He does stoop to the image of a street hawker in a passage such as Isaiah 55. And in order to convey to us the freeness and the fullness and the sincerity of His gospel offers, God says, Oh, everyone that thirsts, come to the waters.

7:34 - 8:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider what the end must be if you continue in your present unconverted condition, passing the boundary of eternity without mercy.

An extended quotation from John Brown, emphasizing the finality of death as the boundary between time and eternity, and the impossibility of obtaining mercy or becoming God's people after this boundary is crossed without Christ.

as I thought of how I might express them more forcefully I said no let John Brown speak let him be one of those who though dead yet speaks let those who if they think at all must know that they are in the darkness and ignorance of sin that they are not among God's people that they have not obtained mercy let them consider what the end must be if they continue in their present condition pass that boundary that separates time from eternity and what is that boundary it's the boundary of a heartbeat almighty God says heart stop and there aren't enough trauma teams in the universe to make it start ...

50:00 - 51:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be so hardened in sin as to commit to being locked into the 'before' state forever, rejecting God's mercy.

An example of a proponent of a low-fat diet and cardiovascular exercise who dropped dead during his daily run, illustrating the sudden and unpredictable nature of death and the finality of the 'heart stop'.

in the darkness of a natural state will settle down upon you in the blackness of darkness forever they who are not God's people can then never become God's people those who have not obtained mercy can never obtain mercy the change so absolutely necessary to your happiness must take place in time for it cannot take place in eternity it must take place on earth for it cannot take place in hell have you made up your mind and here I ask you my unconverted man woman boy or girl listen to these questions this is not preacher's rhetoric listen to the question have you made up your mind and it shall n...

51:30 - 52:58 Read in full sermon