Sermon Tone Analysis
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Copyright July 3, 2022 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche
Freedom is dangerous.
We live in a country that prides itself on the freedom we have been given.
The reason freedom is dangerous is that freedom carries consequences.
· If you choose to live here, you will have to pay taxes for infrastructure.
· If you choose to break the law, you may get thrown in jail.
· If you choose to drive recklessly, you may end up in an accident.
· If you choose not to do your homework in school, you may get the opportunity to repeat that grade for another year.
· If you choose not to work at your job, you may lose that job.
· If you choose to spend your money in one area, you won’t have it for something else.
· If you choose to live outside of God’s instructions about sex and marriage you will create scars that will impact future relationships.
· If you treat your friends in a disrespectful way, you will soon have fewer friends.
· If you choose not to discipline your children, you should not be surprised when your children are always in trouble.
Real freedom has real consequences.
Let me illustrate this from one of the hot-button topics of the day.
I understand the abortion debate is a nuanced and complicated topic, I understand that there are some exceptional situations.
But in most cases the issue of abortion rights is not about personal choice, it is about sidestepping personal responsibility for the consequences of the choices already made.
In other words, people want to use abortion as a way to negate the consequences of the free choice they made to engage in acts that risk pregnancy.
It is the same issue as people who engage in criminal behaviors and then are upset when they are arrested.
If they resist arrest, they will be restrained, and then there are cries of police brutality.
It is another effort to sidestep the consequences of the choices the person made.
Many of the protests in our day come from anger at having to live with the consequences of choices.
I realize there are some real issues out there that need to be addressed, but trying to shrug off the results of our free choices is not freedom, it is the anthesis to freedom.
What is true in everyday life is also true in our relationship with God.
He gives us the opportunity to choose whether we want to worship Him, obey Him, follow Him, and trust Him for eternal life.
Each of these choices has temporal as well as eternal consequences.
We will see this written out in Isaiah 48 this morning,
God’s Faithfulness and Love (1-16)
1 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of Israel
and born into the family of Judah.
Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord
and call on the God of Israel.
You don’t keep your promises,
2 even though you call yourself the holy city
and talk about depending on the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
3 Long ago I told you what was going to happen.
Then suddenly I took action,
and all my predictions came true.
4 For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are.
Your necks are as unbending as iron.
Your heads are as hard as bronze.
5 That is why I told you what would happen;
I told you beforehand what I was going to do.
Then you could never say, ‘My idols did it.
My wooden image and metal god commanded it to happen!’
6 You have heard my predictions and seen them fulfilled,
but you refuse to admit it.
The Lord began his message to Israel with a comparison between His faithfulness and the faithfulness of the people of Israel.
His faithfulness is enduring.
God has consistently provided for His people.
He has faithfully warned them of the consequences of rebellion.
Israel’s faithfulness, however, was sporadic at best at best.
They made promises they did not keep.
They acted in religious ways, but they never backed these things up in their daily living which is the real test of faith.
As a result, when God delivered on His promise to bring Babylon against them, they cried out, “Unfair!” or maybe today it would be “God Brutality.”
When they were simply receiving the stated consequences for their choices.
Is this how God sees much of contemporary Christianity?
Does He see us as only going through the motions; looking religious on the outside but refusing to follow God in our daily living?
Does He see us as mere pretenders?
Do we rant and rave about God’s indifference when we are receiving exactly what we chose?
We should be grateful God has not treated us as our sins deserved immediately.
If God had not been patient, we would now be in Hell.
God will judge the wicked (which is all of us) but He delays that judgment to give time for people to repent and believe.
We are followers of Christ today because of God’s love and His patience.
It is not because we finally “got our act together.”
In verses 12-16 He continued the comparison between His faithfulness and the faithfulness of Israel.
12 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
Israel my chosen one!
I alone am God,
the First and the Last.
13 It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth,
my right hand that spread out the heavens above.
When I call out the stars,
they all appear in order.”
14 Have any of your idols ever told you this?
Come, all of you, and listen:
The Lord has chosen Cyrus as his ally.
He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon
and to destroy the Babylonian armies.
15 “I have said it: I am calling Cyrus!
I will send him on this errand and will help him succeed.
16 Come closer, and listen to this.
From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.”
And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit
have sent me with this message.
God has chosen His people; we did not choose Him.
He alone is God!
He is the One who laid the foundations of the earth and rules over all creation.
All of creation responds to His command.
The Lord has revealed the future hundreds of years in advance.Many of the gods in the nations around Israel had a narrow dominion.
They were gods of seas, soil, the sun, and various localities.
The Lord was drawing a distinction between Him and these gods.
He is the Lord over ALL creation.
He made all there is, and He rules over all that takes place.
As Rick pointed out last week God predicted the rise of Cyrus as many as 100 years before Cyrus was even born!
The point is . . .
This is no “ordinary god.”
The Lord God Almighty is THE one and only true God.
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