Sermon Outline July 6, 2008 Morning Service

Topic: How Could God Love Us?   

Text:       1 John 3:1   

    Introduction                                                                 

I.        As a young man John had a fiery and destructive temperament!

A.       He wanted to call down fire from heaven on Jesus’ enemies.

B.       Jesus called he and his brother ‘sons of thunder’!

C.      But through his association with Jesus, his disposition was so changed that we know him as the “apostle of love”.

II.       Wouldn’t we all love to experience that kind of transforming power!

A.       No doubt many of us think that this cannot be for us.

B.       Today I want to ask, “How Could God Love Us?”

C.      And I want to ask that question in two different senses.

Text

I.        How Could God Love Us: As Sinful As We Are?

A.       Surely no one here would claim to be sinless (1 John 1:8 & 3:4).

1.       There are some basic facts about sin that we must accept:

a.       Every accountable person sins.

b.       Every sin is observed by the Father.

c.       Every sin is an object of separation between us and God.

d.       Sin is the problem of every human being on earth!

2.       All of that being true, how could God really love us?

B.       God’s aim is to purify us of our sins (1 John 1:7 & 2:1).

C.      God can love us because He can forgive us.

II.      How Could God Love Us – What Kind Of Love Would Allow It?

A.       We use that word ‘love’ so loosely.

B.       The Greeks, however, did not put all the “flavours of love into one word only.” (Hugo McCord).

1.       They had precise words for each.

2.       Agape-comes from a word that means to admire.

a.       Its use in the New Testament extends beyond admiration.

b.       It is the love that allows us to be kind to those who hurt us (Matthew 5:43-48).

c.       God’s agape extends to the unadmired, the ugly and repulsive, to sinners and enemies (Romans 5:8-10).

C.      Agape is offered in spite of what we have done rather than because of anything we have accomplished.

1.       This is the kind of love that God has for us sinners.

2.       It is the only kind of love that would let him love us like he does.

III.     You Can Believe That God Loves You!

A.       Listen to just a couple of John’s assurances (1 John 3:1; 4:16).

B.       God’s love is expressed so clearly in the atoning work of Jesus Christ (1 John 4:9-10)!

C.      God loves us so strongly, that we need not fear that He will take away His love (1 John 4:17-19)

Conclusion

I.        “How Could God Love Us?”

A.       How could he love people who sin like we do?

B.       What kind of love would allow Him to love us this way?

II.       God’s love is the most basic fact in scripture.