Sermon Tone Analysis

The Queen’s Speech

History was made in the House of Commons of the British Parliament on May 10 as Parliament in both houses, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, met for the annual queen's speech (think of Congress, where Congress is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives).

That is the official opening of Parliament.

But the queen didn't give the speech yesterday there in Parliament on that official state occasion, an occasion of rare ceremony.

She didn't give the speech and it was blamed on a lack of mobility given her age.

But the interesting thing is, of course, that the Prince of Wales, her heir, gave the speech, Prince Charles delivered the queen's speech before Parliament.

Now, there's a lot of politics involved here.

The speech is actually written by the Parliamentary majority party, is not written by the monarch, is delivered by the monarch.

The big issue here is the ceremony that is involved and the historical political tradition that is represented there.

Then in this case, the important thing to recognize is that Prince Charles was not there to give Prince Charles's speech, not the Prince of Wales's speech, it was the Queen's speech, and the queen wasn't there.

But guess what was there, her crown sitting on a throne.

It wasn't just any of the crowns Queen Elizabeth II might wear, it was the Imperial State Crown, and that crown represented the monarchy.

The monarchy was there even as the queen was not, represented by the crown.

And you ask, "Why is that so important?"

Well, most people wouldn't even think about this, but as you look at the pictures of Prince Charles delivering the queen's speech with the crown next to him, you need to recognize that something represented there was actually a prelude to what would become the constitutional republic of the United States of America.

The British monarch, as represented in the state opening of Parliament, is not an autocrat, is not a dictator, is not a totalitarian, is not an absolute monarch.

The actual constitutional order of the British monarchy is the crown-in-parliament.

It's often referred to as the king-in-parliament, or in the case of Queen Elizabeth II, the queen-in-parliament.

But the issue is the constitutional principle of the queen-in-parliament.

In other words, this is a recognition of the fact that even as the monarchy is separate from the Parliament, the Parliament and the monarchy are inseparable.

And the monarch does not reign and does not rule independent of the legitimacy of the British government.

The British government also draws its legitimacy from the venerable nature and tradition, the majesty of the crown.

The crown is a symbol of the monarchy.

In this case, the crown is a symbol of the queen, the queen together with the elected officials is a symbol of the type of government, a representative government.

And so, what is the connection to Christ?

What is the connection to the Bible?

What is the connection to Solomon?

The throne, the king, everything about the civil laws and government of Israel, is meant to point to YHWH, the LORD, the one who sits on the throne of Heaven.

Two words: Soteriological and Doxological -

Truth: If you take Christ off the throne of your life and put yourself on the throne, you are following the same path as every unfaithful king in the Old Testament

Some kings were more godly than other kings.

But the kings of United Israel, Saul, then, David, then Solomon, were to represent the Lord as they ruled.

They were called the Lord’s anointed.

After the Kingdom Divided, the kings of the nation of Judah were supposed to be image bearers of the Great King of Heaven.

And when they were not, the Lord would send prophets to them.

Samuel was sent to Saul, Nathan was sent to David.

But Nathan died during the reign of Solomon and it’s here that we see the power of a prophetic voice in the rule of the Kings.

And we’ll see this again and again: ignore the word of God, ignore the voice of God, ignore the commands of God, and you will stray from the will of God

The theme of this morning’s message: ignore the word of God, the voice of God, and the commands of God, and you will stray from the will of God

the word of God - letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly

the voice of God - godly accountability, the godly promptings of the Holy Spirit

the commands of God - the divine rules and boundaries which God has given so that we can be protected from our sinful hearts

“Made even him to sin.”

The people under Nehemiah had made several vows in chapter 10 : they agreed to obey God’s Word, abstain from intermarriage with pagans, keep the Sabbath, and support temple worship.

Less than a decade later, they had broken every promise.

The danger of the slow walk away from the Lord...

Let’s look at some Old Testament scriptures...

Notice 8:3; 8:5-6; 8:7a, 9a, 11, 14, 17, 18

God has given you every good thing, but do not forget the Lord - the danger of MY (17).

The theme of this morning’s message: ignore the word of God, the voice of God, and the commands of God, and you will stray from the will of God

the word of God - letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly

the voice of God - godly accountability, the godly promptings of the Holy Spirit

the commands of God - the divine rules and boundaries which God has given so that we can be protected from our sinful hearts

We often make the mistake of thinking two things concerning sin:

(1) God only uses hardship to test the devotion of our heart - the Lord uses success, even “greatness”

(2) Sin and temptation are never caused by those things which we might consider to be the “blessings” of God.

What do you do with what God has given you?

Horses and wealth and wives - his heart was led away from the Lord

Let’s compare Jesus to Solomon:

Jesus was the true King.

The King of Kings

Jesus humbled himself - Philippians 2:7-8

Jesus did not come to be served but to serve -

Jesus has one bride - the church

Ephesians 5:23; 2 Cor 11:2; Revelation 19:7

Jesus, though he was rich, became poor for our sake

Jesus was the doubly obedient Savior