Sermon Tone Analysis

A Fair Go

God is just

!!! *Welcome and announcements*

!!! *8** Doxology*                 /Hymn 317: 1-2 “O praise now the Lord”/

!!! *8** Call to worship and Greeting*

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

(Psalm 95:6-8)

Grace to you from God our Father, and from Jesus Christ our Lord, and from the Holy Spirit.

!!! *8** Prayer*

!!!!!! Invocation

!!!!!!

The Lord’s Prayer

!!! *8** Hymn no 319:*      /  “Shout for the blessed Jesus Reigns”/

!!! *8** Prayer of adoration and Confession of sins*

!!! *8** Declaration of pardoning*

/O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.

He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

(Psalm 130:7-8)/

!!! *8** Hymn no 432:*      /  “I am yours O Lord”/

!!! *8** Bible Reading*

*                        *Old Testament:                  /  Ezekiel 18:21-32/

!!! *8** Offering and Dedication*

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

(Proverbs 3:9-10)

While the Offering is taken up, all (remaining seated) sing)

 *8* *Hymn no 471*   /“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God”/

!!! *8** Prayer of Intercession*

!!! *8** Bible Reading*

New Testament:                                /  Matthew 20:1-16/

!!! *8** Prayer:                        *Opening of the Word

Blessèd Jesus at Your Word

we have gathered now to hear You.

Let our hearts and minds be stirred

now to seek and love and fear You;

by Your Gospel pure and holy

teach us, Lord, to love You solely.

All our knowledge, sense and sight,

lie in deepest darkness shrouded

till Your Spirit breaks our night

with Your beams of truth unclouded.

You alone to God can win us,

You must work all good within us.

Glorious Lord, Yourself impart,

Light of light, from God proceeding;

open lips and ears and hearts,

help us by Your Spirit's leading;

hear the cry Your church now raises;

Lord, accept our prayers and praises.

!!! *8** Sermon:  A Fair Go!  God is just!*

!!! /Introduction/

Brother and sister in the Lord,

Where does one draw the line between 8 personal responsibility and corporate solidarity?

Let’s put it this way: do I stand alone with the environment not having any effect on me?

Or am I merely a product of my environment?

Is there something like personal responsibility, or can we only talk about corporate responsibility?

In short: can I be punished for the sins of my fathers, or is it possible that I could escape the wrongdoings of my fathers?

Not an easy answer to these questions.

8 What the Bible teaches us tonight is that we should not approach this question with an either~/or approach, because both have their place in the sovereign grace and punishment of God.

But if both are possible, is God fair?

Can we ever know where we stand with God?  Let’s look at the Scriptures.

8 What the Scriptures teach here is that this problem, as we posed it, is only a theoretical contradiction.

See it like two rails of the railway: both are necessary to keep the train on track in the right direction.

Or like the two chains on the block and tackle: you can’t operate the thing with only one.

!!! *8**  You get what you deserve*

God’s people, the Israelites, when this chapter of Ezekiel was written, were in Babylon.

Why were they there?

Not because they chose to there.

It was not merely the outcome of political issues or the fate of history.

No, it was God who put them there.

8 Point is they were unfaithful to the Lord.

They were covenant-breakers.

So the Lord declared in Chapter 16:58-59:

8 You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the LORD.

‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant.

Corporately, God’s people broke covenant with God.

They were unfaithful and God sent them away in captivity to work as slaves in the country of the oppressor.

They lost political self-determination; they lost the privilege to worship God in the temple He chose for his name to dwell.

In part they lost their privileged position as God’s special people in the land promised by oath to them and the forefathers.

And there, far away from home, so much aware of their fate, a second generation rose up, 8 and they raised crucial questions:  Look, if it is our father who sinned and plunged us in this dreadful situation, why do we have to carry the burden of their sins?

They composed a poem about this.

It went like this:

’The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

Is this fair?

Is God fair in this?

Well, yes, He is.

He is the God of the covenant.

He had an agreement with his people, as He has with us, the church.

We are covenant people.

The very fact that we are invited to sit at the Lord’s table this evening, proves the fact.

The cup of salvation is the cup of the covenant, remember?

The New Covenant in the blood of Jesus, like the Pass-over was under the old covenant.

In this covenant God sets the conditions of how He must be worshipped.

The Bible is the book of the Covenant.

The two testaments are God’s covenant books which He set down the standards under which his people must live and conduct their lives.

8 God is not unfair if He punishes his people when they do not stick to the agreement.

It’s all in the Book.

Do this and you will live; do otherwise and expect the punishment of the Lord of the covenant.

God sent his prophets to warn his people and remind them of the covenant, but refused to listen.

God’s grace ran out.

Time for grace has a limit.