Thanksgiving - 2016 - I Am Thankful For A Saviour Who Died For Me

Temple Baptist Church - 10-30-2016

John 3:16; Genesis 22:1-14

 

 

A.  This morning, as we approach Thanksgiving Day in a few weeks, I want to continue the thought of spiritual blessings. 

 

1.  Normally on Thanksgiving, we give thanks for the many temporal blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon us.   Life is hard at best and has not always been good to my family but the Lord has always been good! 

 

2.  So often, the Lord gets the blame for every result of sinfulness but I want to thank Him for His eternal goodness to this old sinner.

 

B.  Last week, we looked at the love of the Father: “For God so loved the world that He gave.”  This morning, I want to look at the love of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us.

 

C.  We have read one of the most beautiful of Bible passages.  It is prophetic of our Heavenly Father (Abraham is the type) offering His Son (Isaac is the type) in the land of Moriah (Calvary) for our sins. 

 

D.  In verse 7, Isaac asks the question, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”  Here, we see a wonderful typology: 

 

1.  Isaac is a type: he is a type of the sinner who deserved to die replaced by the “ram caught in a thicket.”

 

2.  In verse 13, The “ram caught in a thicket” is a beautiful type of the substitutionary death of our Lord Jesus Christ, nailed to the cross for our sins.

 

E.  In verse 8, Abraham answers prophetically, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”  A prophecy fulfilled in John 3:16 as God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for the sin of the world.

 

F.  Both the New American Standard Version and the now popular English Standard Version (ESV) insert the words “for” himself.  These are the two modern perversions that many so-called fundamentalists use.  If God offered for Himself, then God would also be a sinner!  God offered Himself, i.e., God offered His Son to die in our place.

 

G.  I have often been asked the question, “If there is a God, how do you know that your God is the real and only One?” 

 

1.  Our God is the only God who was willing to die for mankind instead of mankind dying for Him. 

 

2.  Our Bible is the only Word of God because it shows the true nature of man as he will never be able to reach a state of perfection and, therefore, can gain salvation through personal merit.

 

3.  It is the only Bible that gives the creation account in detail.  It is scientifically, medically, historically, and geographically correct—giving information in a time when it could have been known no other way that divine revelation.   

 

4.  Evolution is a farce!  Evolution is both scientifically and logically impossible.  Evolution “flies in the face” of true science.  It is “science falsely so called.” 

 

H.  What love our Lord Jesus Christ has shown the world at Calvary. 

 

John 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

 

I.  Ephesians 3:17-19  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,  (18)  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;  (19)  And to know the  love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

 

1.    We can never fathom the love of God that was displayed in John 3:16 where God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son!  Only eternity will reveal the depths of God’s amazing love and grace.

 

2.  Though God’s love is fathomless, according to these verse, it is knowable!  I am so glad that I know the love of Christ and it constrains me to live for Him.

 

1.  The Breadth Of God’s Love – 1 John 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  (Jesus loves me, this I know, because the Bible tells me so!  His love is from Pole to Pole.  His love is from the East to the West.  His love is from Wall to Wall.  The Love of God covers every man, woman, and child.  There are none exempt and there are none excluded!  There is not a race, color, or creed rejected!  His love is for the whole world!  I cannot understand it, but I believe it!)

 

2.  The Length Of God’s Love – Psalms 86:15  But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.  (Jesus loves me even when I am not lovable!  Thank the Lord for 1 John 1:9!  God’s love is not only universal in its scope; it is longsuffering in its forbearance.  God is compassionate, gracious, longsuffering, and merciful.  I did not deserve to receive it nor do I deserve to keep it.  The Lord has been far better to me than I deserve and I am eternally grateful for it.  I cannot understand it, but I have seen it!)

 

3.  The Depth Of God’s Love – 1 Timothy 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.  (The wickedest man in the world is a candidate for His great salvation.  It matters not what you have done; it matters not what you have thought; it matters not where you came from!  His love goes to the deepest in sin and despair.  I cannot understand it, but I have received it!)

 

4.  The Height Of God’s Love – Romans 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:  (His wonderful love is far greater than all of our sin put together.  God’s gracious love is always there and you cannot sin your salvation away.  He will forgive 70 times 7 and never exhaust his love or forgiveness.  I cannot understand it, but I have experienced it!)