Sermon Notes

Christmas Service December 25, 2022

God So Loved

I Love To Tell The Story

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/1064
(We can sing stanza 1,3&4 with chorus)

1
I love to tell the story
Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory,
Of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story,
Because I know ’tis true;
It satisfies my longings
As nothing else can do.

Chorus:
I love to tell the story,
’Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
of Jesus and His love.

3
I love to tell the story;
’Tis pleasant to repeat
What seems each time I tell it,
More wonderfully sweet.
I love to tell the story;
For some have never heard
The message of salvation
From God’s own holy Word.

4
I love to tell the story;
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory,

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 Sermon Notes

I sing the new, new song,

’Twill be the old, old story,
That I have loved so long.

Today, this Christmas day, 2022, we will take a few moments to reflect on what the
Scriptures point us to on how God expresses His love and what knowing the love of God
really does to us?

Among the many ways God expresses His love for us, the Bible points us to this fact
that:
HE GAVE IN LOVE

One of the most familiar, most quoted Scriptures are:

John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through Him might be saved.

God so loved…that He gave…

When we give, we let something leave our lives, and enter into someone else’s life.
In some ways, we can consider that we deduct from our own lives, so that something
can be added into someone else’s life.
The fact that our giving enriches someone else is more than sufficient reward and
motivation for us to give.

In a much greater and grander way, God gave to us, so that our lives could have what
we desperately needed, what we could not provide for ourselves, and what only He
could give to us: the free gift of eternal life and salvation.

This was a need that only He could meet.

THE MISSING PIECES IN THE PRODIGAL STORY

During His earthly ministry, to communicate the truth of God’s Kingdom, the Lord Jesus
used stories from our world that teach us about God’s world. One such story that is well
known is that of the prodigal son (See Luke 15:11-32).

This story in many ways points us to God’s story of love – unveiling the love that God
has for us and His father’s heart.

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 Sermon Notes

However, there are elements in God’s story of love, that are missing in the story of the
prodigal son.

The Father went searching for his son.

What if in the story of the Prodigal son, the father went searching for his son. He then
finds the son, living in absolute filth with the pigs. The only way to get to the son out
would be for him to first get into the same dirty and filthy place where the son was with
the pigs.

The Father paid off the son’s debt.

What if the father found out that the son was deep in debt. A mountain of debt that he
owed the owner of the farm where he was working, taking care of the pigs, in all that
dirt and filth. What if the father paid this debt off in full, so that son could be relieved of
working taking care of the pigs. And then the father took the son to a place where he
could bathe, wear clean clothes and be celebrated.

In God’s story of love, God so loved us, that this is exactly what He did for us.

God so loved us that He came searching for us.

He came right to the place where we were.
Light entered our darkness.
Purity stepped into our place of impurity.

God so loved us that He paid off our debt.

HE DIED FOR LOVE

This is what the Cross of Jesus Christ is.

It is that place where God so loved us that He came and paid our debt.
This was God speaking to us unmistakably telling us that He loves us.

Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.

1 John 4:9-10
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

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10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be
the propitiation for our sins.

HE WRAPS US IN LOVE

God so loves us that He wraps us is His love.

He is able to forgive us our sins and make us stand holy and without blame before Him.
We are adopted as sons and daughters into His family.
We stand fully accepted, welcomed, embraced in His presence, in Christ.

Ephesians 1:4-6
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love,
5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to
the good pleasure of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

This is so important for us to know.

Religion often leaves us condemned, guilty, unwelcome in the presence of such a great
God.
But in Jesus Christ, we can experience God’s love that frees us completely from any
sense of guilt, shame, and condemnation.

Ofcourse, this does not mean that we live recklessly and in sin. The experience of His
love draws us towards Himself and away from all sin.

HE HOLDS US IN LOVE

We will face all kinds of situations in life. Life will have its challenges. But we are assured
of His love for us in the midst of the worst.

Romans 8:35-37
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written: "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE KILLED ALL DAY LONG; WE ARE
ACCOUNTED AS SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER."
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU IS UNBREAKABLE, UNSHAKEABLE, UNQUESTIONABLE,

UNRESTRAINABLE!

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 Sermon Notes

It is because of this kind of love that in every situation, we can affirm that we are more
than conquerors. We face life’s situations, not just as conquerors, but as someone
bigger and greater than a conqueror, a more than a conqueror because we know of
God’s unbreakable, unshakable, unquestionable, and unrestrainable love for us.

KNOW HIS LOVE

We are invited to “comprehend”, to know personally and experientially that immense

love that God has for us.

Ephesians 3:17-19
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and
grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and
depth and height—
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all
the fullness of God.

WE LOVE HIM

When we know how much He loves us, all we can do is overflow with love for Him.

1 John 4:19
We love Him because He first loved us.

It is because we love Him, that we worship Him, obey Him and serve Him.

WALK IN LOVE

And out of having known and received His love, we are able to extend that love to
others.

1 John 3:16
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay
down our lives for the brethren.

Ephesians 5:2
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

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 Sermon Notes

WE CONQUER THROUGH LOVE.

We cannot conquer, we cannot win the hearts and lives of people through earthly
influence, or power, or achievements. But when we walk in love, we conquer.

To God be the glory, great things He hath done

(https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/39)

1
To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life our redemption to win,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

Let the earth hear His voice;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice;
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.

2
Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

3
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.

SALVATION CALL

SUPERNATURAL MINISTRY TIME

Minister as the Spirit leads

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 Sermon Notes

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SERMON OUTLINE
In this sermon we reflect on the love that God has demonstrated for us through His Son
Jesus Christ. We discuss how this changes our relationship with Him, how we face life’s
challenges and how we relate to other people.

KEYWORDS
God so loved, sermon, sermons, sermon notes, sermon outline, free sermon notes, free
sermon outlines, Bible study resources

REFERENCES/CITATIONS
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible
2020, (NASB) Copyright © by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

Biblical definitions, Hebrew and Greek words and their meanings are drawn from the following
resources:

Thayer's Greek Definitions. Published in 1886, 1889; public domain.

Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong,
S.T.D., LL.D. Published in 1890; public domain.

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 Sermon Notes

Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, © 1984, 1996, Thomas
Nelson, Inc., Nashville, TN

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary. Edited by William D. Mounce with Rick D. Bennett, Jr.
(1993)

Word Pictures in the New Testament. Archibald Thomas Robertson. Published in 1930-1933;
public domain.

Word Studies in the New Testament. Marvin R. Vincent, D.D. (1886)

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