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Sermon Outline - So Great a Love, John ch.3 v.16

Date21/12/2003
Time11:00
PreacherRev. Maurice Roberts, Inverness
Sermon TitleSo Great a Love
TextJohn ch.3 v.16
Sermon ID735

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Introduction:

  1. The subject is "faith"
  2. This text so well known and loved.
  3. The speaker is surely CHRIST.
  1. THE SOURCE FROM WHICH THE GOSPEL FLOWS

    * "For God so loved the world".

    1. All great rivers (one supposes) have their source in high mountains
      (i) The Rhine and Rhone in the Alps. (ii) Nile (longest river) rises near the Equator. (iii) Amazon (fullest of water) rises in the Andes of Peru.
      OBSERVE: All these rivers bring fertility to millions.
    2. So, the glorious blessings of Christ's Gospel all flow out of one spring = the love of God, high above this world - always flowing down to our poor world with blessing.
      OBSERVE: It is God the Father who is so spoken of.
      PROOF: "God...his only-begotten Son".
    3. This love of God:
      • pure goodness out of God's heart.
      ILLUSTRATION: Love is the most beautiful thing of all: See Joseph's for the brothers; Mary's ointment.
      APPLICATION: Why are we not more moved by God's love? Because its greatness exceeds our minds.
    4. The term "world" needs explanation:
      1. Did God love every man equally? No.
        PROOF: Esau and Jacob. (Some are elected).
      2. Did God purpose to save every man? No.
        PROOF: "Many are called - few chosen".
      3. Does God sincerely offer eternal life to all who hear His Gospel? Yes.
      4. Does God desire the salvation of all who hear His Gospel? Yes. It is a mystery.
        APPLICATION: DO NOT FORGET THE FATHER'S LOVE.
  2. THE FATHER'S LOVE IS EVIDENCED BY THE COMING OF HIS SON INTO THIS WORLD

    * "He gave His only-begotten Son".

    1. The older we get as Christians, the more we long to depart from this world:
      1. Job: 7:15-16: see how he shrinks from life's miseries!
      2. Paul often: "To be with Christ - far better".
      3. Christ: Mark 9:19: "How long?"
      OBSERVE: We say: "Imagine coming back here!" The world is not the home we look for.
    2. See then the measure of God's love: He sent His Son into this world:
      1. Christ had known only love before; not he would experience rejection.
      2. Christ had known only worship before; now He must be reviled.
      APPLICATION: Who among us would send a son/daughter to live in the Iraq that was?
    3. But God exposed His Son to all the evils of living here:
      1. The threat of Infanticide: Herod.
      2. All the malice of Satan: Matthew 4
      3. A life of poverty: "carpenter" and also from "Nazareth", "No room".
      4. Rejection by His race: "We will not..."
      5. All the torments of crucifixion.
      ILLUSTRATION: "Rabbi" Duncan's tears in class.
      APPLICATION: O fathomless LOVE of God!
  3. THIS LOVE OF GOD HAS HAD A TRANSFORMING EFFECT UPON OUR LIFE AS CHRISTIANS

    * "..should not perish...everlasting life".

    1. Illustration: a snowflake above the Alps - which way will it go? N or S? It's destiny depends on where it comes to rest.
      APPLICATION: Do does yours and mine: Do we rest on Christ or on this fading world?
    2. Heaven and Hell are everywhere in the Bible. They are here too: "perish": "life".
    3. But why, if God is love, does He not just forgive sin? Why Christ's agony?
      ANSWER:
      1. God's love forbids it. "He will by no means clear the guilty".
      2. No forgiveness can be given if there is no Atoning Blood: "without the shedding of blood - NO REMISSION".
      EXPLAIN: No angel or saint good enough to shed blood for his fellow-creatures.
    4. One only was good enough:
      1. He must be man to die
      2. He must be God to be infinite
      3. He must be a Second Adam
      4. He must be able to save to the uttermost. Only Jesus can.
      DOCTRINE: Consequent, absolute necessity.

CONCLUSION:

ILLUSTRATION: The man who wore the clothes of a condemned prisoner.


This sermon outline has been downloaded from http://www.bible-sermons.org.uk