Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

It is a great honour and privilege to be with you all today at your 11th anniversary service.

Of course many of you will my Father in Law - Pastor David Moore and I know that he has preached the last two anniversary services for you and has told me many good things about you all and the welcome and hospitality he received.

just think of me as a younger and slimmer model :)

Only joking aside we are going to now open the word of God and think about our theme text for today, if you have your Bibles with you can you open with me to

Let’s just pause for a word of prayer shall we, and seek the Lord before we go any further...

THE PERFECT STORY

The story is told about a perfect man who met a perfect woman.

After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding.

Their life together was, of course, perfect.

Then one stormy, Christmas Eve this perfect couple was driving along a winding road when they noticed someone on the side of the road in distress.

Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help.

There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys.

Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle.

Soon they were driving along delivering the toys.

Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa had an accident.

Only one of them survived the accident.

Who was the survivor?

The answer: The perfect woman.

Because, after all, she’s the only one that really existed in the first place.

Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and no such thing as a perfect man.

The men’s response to the answer: If there is no such thing as a perfect man or Santa Claus, then the perfect woman must have been driving...which explains why there was a car accident.

Now this afternoon we are not talking about the perfect man, or perfect woman that dont exist, we are thinking about our perfect saviour and his perfect work

The portion of scripture we have just read, comes from the song of Moses,

There were two songs given by Moses, forty years apart, one at the crossing of the Red Sea and the other was the song Moses sang the day that he died.

Moses began his wilderness career with a song and ended with a song

the first song is given in Exodus 15:1-19 just after the red sea crossing , which technically might be better known as a song of Moses and Miriam, but the second song recorded for us here in Deut 32:1-43 is solely a song of Moses and is sung just before his death.

Now this isn't a song that you are going to hear on the radio, you probably have never heard it sung before, I mean it doesn't look like it makes for a chart topper,

Well we may not of heard the song of Moses now, but one day every believer will here this song sung in the heavenlys

This song will be sung with the song of the lamb, how awesome and powerful is that, how holy is that, that the truths we have read will in our theme verse will be sung out in the courts of heaven, picture the scene....

look at verse 3

great and marvellous are thy works, the songs will be about praising and honouring the Lord..

for his work is perfect...

Now what does that mean for us today, His work is perfect, how does this apply.

And we are going to look this afternoon at the application of his perfect work on the life of the believer, in the life of the Church and then finally unbeliever

Now rather than just using our theme text as a springboard, I believe we can see these three application within the text itself

firstly then when it comes to the Christian we have

The Perfect Work of Salvation

“He is the Rock, his work is perfect”

further down in the same song, we have the term - The rock of salvation

and its a term we se repeated through scripture

Jesus is the Rock of our salvation, a sure and eternal refuge, the foundation on which rests the hope of heaven.

“The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6)

Our redemption, Salvation was a work, not by us but by Him

it was a work, but a work only he could do, and his work was perfect. it was complete, it was without blemish!!

The work was mandated in the heavenlys before the foundation of the world

It was a foretold work and it was a finished work

The work of Christ was a completed work, it was a finished work

work- old boss - dictionary with post it note at the the definitions of complete and finished

there are many today who would want to mark Christs mission as not complete, not finished.

they want to say that Christs work was good, but not enough

they want to say that we have to take over the work from him to secure our salvation through our own efforts

they want to say you can lose your salvation

what nonsense utter tripe Christs work, it was a perfect work!!

It was a finished work

TETELESTAI means to bring something to a successful end to or to its intended or destined goal.

It does not mean just to complete a task but to carry it out fully, to bring it to the finish or to perfection.

It follows that Jesus’ cry of TETELESTAI is a word of finality.

there where many different uses of this word in the ancient world

When a Roman citizen was convicted of a crime, he was thrown into prison.

A "Certificate of Debt" listing all his crimes was nailed to his cell door so that anyone passing by could know what he had been accused of and the penalty assessed.

When the prisoner had served his sentence and was released from bondage, the indictment was taken down from the door and the judge who had put him in prison would sign the indictment and write across it the word TETELESTAI.

The freed prisoner was then given this document and if questioned as to why he was out of jail, he could point to the indictment across which the judge had written TETELESTAI.

He could rest in safety and security because the word TETELESTAI guaranteed his deliverance and his liberty.

The charges for those crimes could never again be brought against him.

He would never be a victim of "double jeopardy" (having to pay for the same crime twice).

When Jesus cried "TETELESTAI" on the cross, He was saying that anyone who places his trust in His sacrificial death on their behalf, receives in essence a "certificate of debt" with the inscription of "tetelestai", indicating that all their "crimes" (past, present and future) against God have been PAID FOR IN FULL! paid in full, finished, done, nothing you can add to it, it was all of him, it was his work and it was only possible by him.

Believer you have entered into the perfect work of Christ in your salvation!

understanding that it is a perfect work will help you when the enemy throws his darts of doubt

It will help you when the wolves want to come along and tell you you have to add something to secure your salvation

that Jesus work was not perfect

that you need to add something!

No, His work is perfect and his work of salvation is perfect....

secondly we see the the perfect work in the life of the unbeliever

The Perfect Work of Separation

“For all his ways are Judgement”

judgement, in the sense of his being free from bias, or self serving interests

He is the perfect Judge and all his judgements are perfect

we can’t play favourites with God

all are to be judged according to the same perfect standard

God is an impartial Judge

God is a righteous Judge

God is a Holy Judge

There can be no charge levelled at God of corruption

His work of separation is Perfect

The unbeliever cannot stand before God at the hour of judgement and cry out this isn’t fair, this isn’t right !!!!

 "The most violent expression of God's wrath and justice is seen in the Cross.

If ever a person had room to complain about injustice, it was Jesus.

He was the only innocent man ever to be punished by God.

If we stagger at the wrath of God, let us stagger at the Cross.

Here is where our astonishment should be focused."

— “The Holiness of God” RC Sproul

There are many today though, that want to take their chances and bargain with God

my good

outweighs the bad

But his work of seperation is perfect!

his judgement is perfect

One thing of a surety and that is "judgment" day is coming and the measuring stick will be the same 'WORD OF GOD" which many still yet rejects even in our world today.

Judged by the Word of God alone!

His perfect work is one of judgement, and the unbelievers will face the judgement and separation that is the sentence..