Hello once again and welcome to Expository Preaching Lesson 8. This is a product of A.T. Stewart Ministries. I am your host, A.T. Stewart. A.T. Stewart Ministries exists for the purpose of glorifying God by feeding those who hunger for the meat of God's Word and therefore grow into christ's likeness we provide free sermons that are biblical relevant and practical uh... you can go to eighty stuart ministry's website eighty stuart dot com Also, I can be reached by email at atstuart.com or you can call my cell phone, 770-823-2545. I hope these lessons are helping the young man who desires to be an expositor of God's Word. We are at Lesson 8. The previous lessons are also listed and you can reach them at sermonaudio.com. in particular atstuart.sermonaudio.com. Also, if you are listening and not viewing this, I suggest you download the PowerPoint PDF that is attached to this lesson and start with slide number 24. And you can follow along as we go through. Today we are looking at step number five in expository preaching, which is to identify the timeless theological principles of the text. What are the timeless theological principles that you see in the text? And many times the theological principles that you find in the text will make up the main points of your text. Now, since God's Word is eternal, we can discover timeless truths in God's Word. But we must think a moment before we jump into finding the theological principles. Is this indeed a timeless theological principle, or is it simply a principle that is confined to the time of the text? Let me explain more in a moment. Let me encourage you to acquire this edition of Grasping God's Word, the third edition, which is a book on interpreting, reading, and applying the Bible. Tremendous work. It's a companion volume to one on preaching that I've already previously mentioned but you can acquire this book through Amazon and the next few slides that I will be using have come from this book by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hayes so again let me encourage you to get this book it would be a great addition to your preaching library and what they talk about in this book when you're talking about getting the principles of god's word they can as break it down like a journey and you have several aspects to the journey first you have the ancient village that is your biblical text uh... you're there you're seeking to discover the truth in that situation in the ancient village But then you have a cultural river you must cross. A cultural, a linguistic, a time situation river. If it's the Old Testament, you have a covenant river, a barrier you must cross. And so you must take all this into consideration as you cross over from the time of the scriptures to the 21st century. And you have a bridge to get you across this that they've called the principalizing bridge. So here you take the ancient truth, number one, and you consider the situation, measure the width of the river to cross, Questions such as what are the differences between the biblical audience and us? And you consider the language differences, the cultural differences, the situational differences, the context differences, and you consider all of these as you think about how does this text and what does it say to the 21st century audience? And then step three, you cross the principalizing bridge. Again, you ask the question, what is the theological principle in this text? Or if there's more than one, what are the theological principles in this text? Now, you need to go through some steps to determine the theological principles so that you won't misapply the scripture. Someone has rightly said that more heresy comes from misapplication than it does from misinterpretation of a passage. Let's look at completing the step three of seeking to find out the theological principles. Again, think about the differences in the original audience and your congregation. Identify any similarities between the biblical audience and the contemporary life. And when it comes to the sinful human condition, mankind has not changed. And so, just as the original audience was selfish and self-centered by nature, so will your congregation be selfish and self-centered by nature. And so a biblical truth that deals with self-centeredness will surely speak in the same way to the people today. And then holding the differences and similarities together, Identify the broad theological principle, even as I mentioned. There is that sinful nature and all the aspects of that sinful nature, the fallen condition of humanity, and that condition has not changed. It may express itself differently in the 21st century than it did in the 1st century or in the 5th century B.C. but nevertheless the root of sin is still there. So you can see how does this truth speak to people today in the same way it spoke in the original audience. And then you want to write out the theological principle using present tense verbs to bring it up to be relevant to your situation. Now again, let's think about some questions that we should put to the timeless principle to determine if it is indeed a timeless principle and not just something that applies to the original audience. First question, is the principle strongly tied to and reflected in the biblical text? Are you truly getting the truth from the text or is it something you are reading into it? Second, is the principle timeless and universal or is it attached to a particular situation? example that immediately comes to my mind are the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy as God is speaking to the nation of Israel about going into the promised land and about possessing that land and about the importance of obedience to him and many curses are listed for their disobedience things that will happen to them if they disobey and and many blessings are also given on them if they will obey and these curses and these promises are only for the nation of Israel only concerning that time and the nation of Israel as they relate to God's obedience to his word obeying God's word or their disobedience. And it is improper to take those blessings and curses and bring them over into the New Covenant and try to say, well, if you will obey God, then your baskets will be full and your cattle will not miscarry and go on and on. This is not an appropriate application at all. And that would just be an example of something that is related to the time it was given, not a timeless principle. And again, is the principle transcultural or is it bound to only one specific culture? Now, as I look at the Sabbath and the keeping of the Sabbath, I personally see that as a cultural thing to the nation of Israel. Again, I think it was used to set Israel apart from other nations, that they would observe a day of rest, one in seven. I think, therefore, it does not carry over into the new covenant Now I think the principle of one in seven rest is a creation principle and we should observe that but the strict regulations concerning the Sabbath that we find again in the Old Testament law I do not think you can bring those across into the New Covenant and say they all apply to the New Covenant church. That would be bound to a cultural. The same thing about the laws that you see in Exodus about punishment for various things. Again, I think those laws were pertaining to the nation of Israel and only to the nation of Israel. And you cannot bring them over and say a person should be stoned because they have committed adultery or because they are homosexual. I think you must leave those and the particular application of those laws to the Old Covenant and the Nation of Israel. Now I think we can draw from those laws that homosexuality is certainly a sin and displeasing to God. as would be adultery and so the principle there is that they are a sin and they violate the moral holiness of God but you cannot take the punishment and bring it over as well Also, you might ask the question, is the principle harmonious with the teachings of the rest of scripture? Here again, it is very important to have a good grasp of the entirety of the revelation of God given in scripture because you do not want to come up with a principle and say it is a principle that is contrary to other teachings of scripture uh... this is just improper interpretation for one and it will bring problems uh... in your ministry because you at one point say this principle applies it is a timeless truth And then when you're teaching a few months later on another passage of scripture that clearly teaches something contrary to that, then you are contradicting yourself and basically saying the scripture contradicts itself, which we know it does not. So you must ask yourself, is this principle that i am proposing to be a timeless principle is it contrary to the other teachings of scripture uh... and of course if it is then it is not a timeless biblical principle again going back to the blessings of the old covenant and how god promises uh... material prosperity to those who will obey his word, to those who will follow his commandments, there is a promise of prosperity materially in the Old Testament. Well, mistakenly, preachers will bring that into the New Covenant and say, God wants you to be financially prosperous God promises, if you will be obedient to Him, if you will walk faithfully before Him, that your barns will be filled, and your stalls will have many cattle, and God will bless you financially. Well, that is clearly contrary to the teachings of this whole Bible. The promise that God gives the New Covenant Christian is not material prosperity, but suffering. all who desire to live godly in christ jesus will suffer persecution if you look in the new covenant the promise for faithfulness is not prosperity material prosperity but it is suffering it is hardship it is difficulty through many tribulations we enter the kingdom of god the scripture says To say that an old covenant promise of material prosperity to those who are faithful and obey God and to bring it into the new covenant is to misapply the truth and it is contrary to the teachings of Scripture. Another question, is the principle congruent with similarities and differences between the two audiences? Alright, is this principle valid? Is it congruent? Does it fit the differences and the similarities between the two audiences? Now take for instance the first commandment, you shall have no other gods besides me. Now that is a timeless biblical principle. It was true for the nation of Israel as God originally gave that commandment to them on Mount Sinai. it is true today in the new covenant even though we are a different culture although we are a different language although we are a different covenant it is still congruent because the Bible teaches you shall have no other gods besides me you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength that's the greatest commandment and so many of the moral commandments of the old covenant can be carried over into the new covenant uh... particularly the ones in scripture as jesus brought it over and the second commandment is a lack of detail of your neighbors yourself which again is a principle taught in the old covenant the similarities between the original audience of the first commandment and the 21st century audiences today is we are both the people of God we are in covenant with God though it is a different covenant we are still in a relationship with God God is still the only true God Therefore, He is alone to be worshipped. He exclusively is to have our love, our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Even though there are differences in the language, in the culture, in the dress, even in the covenant, as I said, nevertheless, that principle still holds true. Another question to ask, is the principle relevant to both the biblical and contemporary audience? Again, honor your father and your mother. is that contemporary is that relevant to us today as it was when it was given originally at mount sinai even though again there many differences uh... between us today and those who were the original recipients of this command nevertheless it's relevant we still have mothers and fathers It's God's order and design from creation, the family structure, that the fathers, the men, be the spiritual leaders in the home, and the leadership of the home, and the wives are the submissive helpers, and the children are to honor and obey their parents. That's relevant anytime there is a family structure, and the family structure will exist as a part of God's original intent for creation. Transculturally, it doesn't matter the culture, it doesn't matter the language, it doesn't matter the country, it doesn't even matter whether it's Old Covenant or New Covenant. It doesn't even matter if it's a part of a covenant. even for people who are unbelievers, that principle is still a timeless principle that parents are to be honored and obeyed. So there, consider the relevance that it has to both groups. Also, if the text is from the Old Testament, we must add the step of crossing into the New Testament. And I ask, how is this principle modified or qualified by the new covenant? Again, I've given examples of that just a few moments ago, as we're looking into the Old Testament. Just a general rule is, now I divide the laws of the Old Testament into civil, ceremonial, and moral. Now, I know there are those who think that's a false division, but nevertheless, I think it's valid. And so civil laws having to do with the nation of Israel, having to do with punishment for certain crimes. For instance, if someone stole something, then they must repay five times. That was a civil law. Then you have the ceremonial laws that have to do with the sacrifices. And then you have the moral laws. such as the ten commandments and so i think uh... the civil laws uh... cannot be just brought over in their entirety from the old covenant to the new covenant uh... nor can the ceremonial laws we don't offer the sacrifices uh... because jesus was the ultimate sacrifice in the ceremonial laws are simply a foreshadow of christ again the moral laws we are more likely able to bring over again we need to see if they need to be modified or qualified for the new covenant but nevertheless we need to add that step of crossing over into the covenants whereas if you have a new testament passage you don't have to consider now is this something that's relevant Gated to the Old Covenant, it is the application different in the Old Covenant than it is in the New Covenant. As I gave the example of the stoning of those who commit adultery. Adultery is a sin. It is a violation of God's moral holiness. But the New Covenant does not teach the stoning of those who do so. Another question, are there biblical parallels to this teaching or theology? Again, are there other passages in scripture that would teach this same truth? That's important, I think. I'm very hesitant to try to make a principle from something that's not mentioned anywhere else in scripture. And I can't imagine right now, I can't come up with an example, but if there is a passage, and I think I would be hesitant to say, well, this seems to be true, but you know, I don't know anywhere else in the Bible that teaches this. I would be very hesitant. And how does this principle fit into the broader arena of Christian theology? This is similar to, does it violate any other biblical revelation or teaching? Not only must you look at the scriptures and make sure that the principle doesn't violate other scriptures, but you need to think of it in the terms of christian theology and that's why it's important that you have a sound theological understanding that you do have a systematic theology because you want to think now does this principle violate uh... an aspect of christian theology and if it does then you need to go back and say then this is not a timeless principle uh... because uh... If it is, it will be congruent and it will be consistent with the broader arena of Christian theology. And so that is important that we look at that as well. Now, let me give you just an example of what we're talking about from over in 1 Timothy 2, where Paul is writing to Timothy, who is a young pastor. And Paul in particular is writing to him about how the church is to conduct itself and what things are to go on in the church and how things are to be. It's kind of a church manual, you might say. And so Paul writing says, likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness, but I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman, being deceived, fell into transgression. Now Paul is setting forth God's design for men and women in the church. And he has previously talked about male leadership and deacons. And he's talking about elders. And he's talking about praying for those in leadership. and he's talking about men's responsibility and now he addresses the women and he says to them basically that they must adorn themselves with proper clothing modestly and discreetly and then he says not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments now what is the timeless principle that we're seeing here and that is that women are to adorn themselves modestly and discreetly. Now Paul adds an application for the particular situation there in his time when he says not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments. Now he's given an example that women are not to go to church to be seen and dress for the purpose of being seen and impress other women. But for us to take this timeless principle, which is women are to dress modestly and discreetly, and for us to take the same application and say, okay, a woman can't braid her hair, and a woman can't wear any gold or pearls, or any costly garments would be for us to misapply the timeless principle. The timeless principle is not that you aren't to braid your hair, you aren't to wear gold or pearls or costly garments. The timeless principle is, a woman is to dress modestly and discreetly, and in verse 10, be known rather by good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. So a woman should adorn herself with good works. She should be known by her good works, not by her outward dress. that the important thing is that she adorned herself with good works, serving the Lord, not with costly clothes and trying to impress people by her dress. She's not to come to church to adorn herself so that people will admire her outward appearance. But she is to have a life of good work so that people will adorn her life, not the way she dresses. So it's important to separate the application that Paul's given for his day and the timeless truth for our day. Again, he says a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. Now, what is the timeless principle here? Well, the timeless principle is that women are not to exercise authority or teach men. And you say, well, now how do we know that's not just a application that Paul's given to his particular time. In fact, I have read several commentators who would want to say that the women at Ephesus were out of hand and they tended to want to control and take over things. And so Paul is given a particular principle for a particular situation that it's only the emphasis that women are not to teach or exercise authority over men well we know that that's not true because Paul gives the rationale behind the principle that women are not to teach or exercise authority over a man when in verse 13 he says for it was Adam who was first created and then he and it was not adam who was deceived but the woman being deceived fell into transgression paul is making this a cultural uh... a non-cultural situation he's going back to creation and he's saying the whole concept the timeless principle of women not exercising authority over men or teaching men which is a position of authority is because god created adam first and then eve that when God created Adam first he set Adam as the leader that Adam is the one in authority and to have a woman teach or exercise authority over a man is to usurp God's original design and plan in creation And so Paul's not relegating this principle of women not exercising authority over men or teaching men to a culture at emphasis. He's going back to creation. It is a non-cultural thing. It is a principle of creation. And then he goes on to add, look, it wasn't Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. Again, there's a greater danger of women being deceived, therefore you don't want them teaching and exercising authority because of that greater tendency to be deceived so here is uh... the application for us of what we're talking about coming up with a timeless principle which are two in this passage that women ought to adorn themselves with good works uh... and not to be so concerned about their dress outwardly that they're not dressed to dress to impress the church uh... but rather Step number six is to formulate the sermon big idea. Now we've talked about the big idea of the text and then we need to move from the big idea of the text to the big idea of the sermon. Now the sermon big idea is a clear concise synthesis of what the sermon is all about. Obviously it's grounded in the big idea of the text. You state the essence of your main idea, the big idea, into a sentence that communicates with your listeners. Here you are bridging the gap from the first century to the 21st century. sometimes it's called the homiletical idea and what it does is you are contemporizing the ancient text you're taking the big idea of the text which is rooted in the century of the scripture that it was written and you're bringing it up into your modern times the twenty-first century and so you are modernizing you might say uh... the text textual idea the big idea of the text and bringing it into everyday language now sometimes a big idea of the text will almost be identical to the big idea of the text excuse me sometimes a big idea of the sermon will be almost identical to the big idea of the text for instance in psalm 117 Everyone should praise the Lord because His love is great and His truth is eternal. Now that is the big idea of the text. Now when I bring it up into the big idea of the sermon, I simply make it contemporary. Let's praise God because His love is great and His truth is eternal. So you can see I've simply changed a few words but in so doing have brought it from the first second century BC up into the 21st century. Another example over in Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 you remember that passage it dealt with Christ as a creator. Now the big idea of the text all things have been created by Christ through Christ and for Christ. Now when I preached the series on the incomparable Christ and I came to this passage My big idea of the sermon was worship the incomparable Christ Because he is the plan the power and the purpose of all things So I took the prepositions by Christ To mean he is the plan through Christ. He is a power and For Christ he is the purpose of all things So here I updated the original idea of the text and brought it up into modern times to apply it make it more applicable and to the big idea of the sermon. Now other times the sermon big idea will not be as closely tied to the big idea of the text. You remember in Philippians 2, 5-8 the big idea of the text we saw to be Jesus humbled himself by becoming a bondservant, by being made in the likeness of man, by looking like an ordinary man, and by becoming obedient to death. Now when I preached this sermon, my big idea of the sermon was from highest exaltation to lowest humility, all for you. My desire in this text was to elicit a new appreciation for how much Jesus had humbled himself to become our Savior and in so doing it would bring about a new and deeper level of worship and appreciation for Him. Paul in his text was dealing with the humility of Christ because the people at the church in Philippi needed to be more humble they were arguing and fighting among themselves and so Paul said have this attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus basically an attitude of humility attitude of self-giving rather than trying to be self-gratifying and so his purpose was to point out the humility of Christ now my purpose in the sermon was not to deal with humility but to deal with Christ Humility and in so doing bring about a deeper level of worship and appreciation and love for him So mine was a little different there depending on the purpose another example over in Psalm 1 the textual big idea the person is blessed who stays away from evil people and meditates on God's Word, but the person who does not do these things will be cursed and And when I wanted to make it a big sermon idea, I said if you want to be truly blessed, you need to be separated from the world. saturated with the word and situated by the waters and you can go to sermon audio atstuart.sermonaudio.com and look up sermons under Psalms and you can listen to this sermon but I changed it to make it again bring it up into the 21st century and make it clear and applicable Now, that move brings us to the seventh step in development of an expository sermon, and that is to determine the purpose of the sermon. I cannot overemphasize how important it is to have a purpose and to know the purpose for your sermon. The purpose of the sermon determines what's included in the sermon. As you've heard me say, the frustration of expository preachers is you must not use eighty percent of what you've discovered and learned in your study process. Well, what 20% do you use of what you've studied? You use the 20% that fits with the purpose of the sermon. The purpose is like a laser beam and it focuses the sermon. Everything in that sermon should move toward fulfilling the purpose of the sermon. Anything else distracts and dilutes the purpose of the sermon. Let's talk about determining the sermon purpose. Well, first you think about what is the condition of fallen humanity that this text addresses. You might want to let that be your sermon purpose, to deal with that fallen condition and address it from a biblical perspective. You want to ask why was the text written? What was the original concern in the writer's mind? What was his original purpose? And that surely will inform your purpose as well. Also, you can ask yourself, what do you expect to happen in the hearers as a result of your sermon? What do you expect them to do? Now remember, we're seeking transformation, not information. The danger of an expositor is that he falls back into thinking his purpose is information. Let me teach the text. Let me give the information of this text. And that is certainly a very important part, but it is not the purpose of the sermon to inform. We inform for a purpose and that is transformation. The desire is a transformed life that the truth of God through the power of God's Spirit will bring about a transformation in a person's life. So information has to be a part of that transformation but it is not the end of the sermon. The purpose of the sermon is transformation. And so don't fall into the trap of thinking because you have taught the truth of the passage that you've given them information that you have accomplished the purpose that God intended. Now, every sermon has a threefold purpose. The ultimate purpose is to glorify God. No matter what sermon you're preaching, its ultimate purpose is to bring glory to God. Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. Now the immediate purpose is to transform lives. That people's lives be brought into conformity to the image of Christ. That they grow into spiritual maturity which means becoming more like Christ. So that's the immediate purpose. Now the particular purpose of a sermon is what do you want the listeners to do after the sermon. And this helps me to formulate the purpose. God, what do you want people to do when they've finished hearing this message? What is the response that you desire? What is the response? What do you want people to do to think after the message? And this helps you to formulate your purpose when you come upon that. How do you determine the purpose? Well, you do so by discovering first the purpose behind the passage you're preaching. As you've heard me say, no sermons in scripture, no passages in scripture, were written in a vacuum. They were written for a purpose. They were written to a particular people, dealing with a particular situation. And you need to determine what was that situation, what was the original purpose, and that will greatly inform your purpose. The purpose of your sermon is closely tied to the purpose of the text. So what purpose did the original author have for this passage? And his purpose will greatly inform your purpose. An example, going back to Psalm 117. The sermon purpose was to encourage my listeners to praise God. That's what I wanted to do. And so everything in that sermon was geared toward bringing the listeners to the point that they would in turn want to praise God, desire to praise God, having seen the truth of the text. In Colossians 116, the sermon purpose was to move hearers to worship the incomparable Christ. To see how He is the plan and the power and the purpose for all things, hopefully would bring them to worship Him in a greater, deeper, richer way. The purpose of Psalm 1 was to motivate people to be separated from the world and to be saturated with the Word and to be situated by the waters. I wanted to motivate them and move them to spend more time in the Word of God, to make sure they were not being a part of the world system, but to put themselves in the place where they could grow spiritually. Now, occasionally your purpose may differ from the purpose of the author had for the text, but it will not violate and should not violate the purpose of the text. I will give you an example. If you remember back in Philippians 2, I mentioned that the main idea Jesus humbled himself by becoming a bondservant, by being made in the likeness of man, by looking like an ordinary man, and by becoming obedient to the point of death. Now Paul's purpose was to encourage them to have the same humble attitude that Jesus had. But in my preparation, I did not think that that was what the congregation needed. I didn't think they needed a lesson on humility. So my purpose was to bring the listener to adore and worship the Lord Jesus by seeing his great humiliation for them, what he was willing to go through to be their Lord and Savior. Now, as a sidelight, when you see the humility of Christ, I think it makes us think about our pride and our humility. And so that was a sidelight, but the main purpose that I had and felt it was what God wanted me to have for the text at that time in that congregation was different from what Paul had, but it did not violate what Paul had in mind. It was not a violation of his purpose. And that brings us to the next step. Step 8, which is outline the sermon with one eye on the text. and one eye on the purpose. Again, that's why it's so important to know the purpose. It greatly informs the sermon, what you put in it, what you leave out. Now you remember from our swimming pool illustration, the sermon is the text and the text is the sermon. and so you do want to develop that text and as you outline that text you must keep in mind what is the purpose of the sermon and bring those two together the purpose and the teaching of the text and let that inform the outline of the sermon as we mentioned the outline of the sermon may be very close to the outline of the text but when you've outlined the text again you'll still back in the century in which it was written and as you come up into the 21st century you will want to change the outline perhaps at least a little bit to make it relevant and up-to-date for example in Psalm 1 when I entitled the sermon are you an oak tree or yard clippings Now the scripture in Psalm 1 talks about chaff. Well, not many modern day listeners really understand what chaff is. And so I thought a parallel would be yard clippings. We all know what yard clippings are. And so the contrast is between a strong oak tree that lasts and grows and lives hundreds of years or the yard clippings that are simply blown away by your blower or by the wind. And so I said, if you want your life to be like a strong, vibrant oak tree, there are three things you need to do. You must first live separated from the world. And that's verse one of Psalm 1. Two, you must be saturated with the word. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his word he does meditate. And you must be situated by the waters. He's like a tree, planted by the rivers of water. And what I mean by situated by the waters is you need to put yourself in the place you can be blessed and you can grow spiritually. You need to be in church. You need to be listening to Christian music. You need to be spending time in your private time in the Word of God. You need to put yourself in the place you can grow spiritually. And then I've turned it around and said, but if you want your life to be like yard clippings that are just blown away, Then what you need to do is the opposite basically of what you want to do if you want to be an oak tree. You must embrace the world's ways. Walk in the ways of the world. You must stay away from serious Bible study. Again, just the opposite of the first point. You must cut yourself off from the waters. Don't go to church. don't hang around christian friends don't spend time in the bible don't spend time in prayer if you want your life to be like your clippings do these things and then the third point you're choosing your eternal destiny uh... will it be in the eternity in hell Will it be an eternity in heaven? And here again, this is the outline that I came up with Psalm 1 with keeping one eye on the text and one eye on the purpose of the sermon. again just to show you from first peter chapter three again i just want to have this passage in front of you and then we'll show you the outline but peter says to sum up all of you be harmonious sympathetic brotherly kind-hearted humble in spirit not returning evil for evil or insult for insult but given a blessing instead For you will call for this very purpose, that you might inherit a blessing. For the one who desires life, to love and to see good days, must keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good. He must seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ears attend to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Now, I would encourage you to take your Bible out. Just pause the video, take your Bible out, and turn to 1 Peter 3, 8. As we continue, and you can look at these verses as I show you how the outline was developed. and I entitled it keys to having a good day and again I took that from the text itself in verse 10 where it says for the one who desires life to love and to see good days and then I said first we must have the right attitudes and those are in verse 8 harmonious sympathetic brotherly kind-hearted humble in spirit and so i talk about all of those but not only must we have the right attitudes but we must also have the right actions and these are dealt with in verses nine through eleven not to return evil for evil second we're not to speak evil and then thirdly in verse eleven we're not to do evil All right, he must turn away from evil Then not only must we have the right attitudes and we must have the right actions But we must also have the right Assurances and we find these in verse 12 first that God sees us for the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous second assurance that God hears us and His ears attend to their prayer and and the third assurance that God is against the wicked. but the face of the lord is against those who do evil so here we see again a way that i have developed an outline for the sermon with one eye on the text and one eye on the purpose this concludes lesson number seven uh... next time we will pick up in lesson excuse me this is lesson number eight next time we'll pick up with lesson number nine and we will talk about how to develop the points of your sermon. How do you go about developing your sermon? This is just a skeleton. You've got to put meat on it. You've got to dress it up. And how do you do that? We'll talk about that next time, God willing.