SF415 - The Grace of the Cross (John 3 16)
@PAGE NUMBER = SF415
@TITLE = THE GRACE OF THE CROSS
@LEVEL ONE = John 3:16
@LEVEL ONE = Ephesians 2:8‑9
@LEVEL ONE = INTRODUCTION
@LEVEL TWO = Grace
@LEVEL THREE = There is no greater theme in all the Bible!
@ILL TITLE = The Grace Of God
@POEM TEXT = But for Grace, my soul had perished,<R>Withered as the desert sand;<R>Gone to shadows, and tormented,<R>But for Grace's perfect plan!
@POEM TEXT = But for God's unceasing Mercy,<R>But for Calvary's sacrifice;<R>I had wandered, blind and thirsting,<R>Fell to Satan's grim device.
@POEM TEXT = But the blessed blood of Jesus,<R>Shed upon that cruel tree;<R>Called me from the ling'ring shadows,<R>Saved my soul, and rescued me!
@POEM TEXT = But for Grace, O Grace perfected,<R>But for love's undying flame;<R>I had never hoped in Jesus,<R>Ne'er had even known His name!
@ILL TEXT = Carlos C. Beam
@LEVEL TWO = The Last Words of a Dying Man
@ILL TITLE = Voltaire ‑ French Atheist
@ILL TEXT = "I have been a fool! The hell that I never believed in now awaits me!"
@ILL TITLE = Robert Ingersoll ‑ Renowned Atheist
@ILL TEXT = "I have lived a wasted life. I am about to leap into the dark unknown."
@ILL TITLE = William Carey ‑ Missionary
@ILL TEXT = "When I am gone, speak less of Carey and more of Carey's Savior."
@ILL TITLE = John Knox's Last Words
@ILL TEXT = "By the grace of God I am what I am: not I, but the grace of God in me. Whereupon, I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ, who has been pleased to give me the victory."
@PAGE NUMBER = Page 2
@LEVEL ONE = Let Us Hear The Last Words Of Our Savior...
@LEVEL ONE = 1A. A WORD OF SUPPLICATION (Luke 23:32‑34)
@LEVEL TWO = 1B. Fulfilled Prophecy
@SCRIPTURE = Isaiah 53:12 (NIV) Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
@SCRIPTURE = Romans 5:8 (NIV) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. Fostered Forgiveness
@SCRIPTURE = Romans 4:8 (NIV) Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."
@SCRIPTURE = Colossians 2:13 (NIV) When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
@SCRIPTURE = Colossians 3:3 (NIV) For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
@ILL TITLE = Complete Forgiveness
@ILL TEXT = Past, Present, and future. How future? How many of your sins were future when Christ died on the cross?
@LEVEL ONE = 2A. A WORD OF SALVATION (Luke 23:35‑43)
@LEVEL TWO = 1B. An Unexpected Word
@LEVEL THREE = Rather than save himself ‑ he saved a thief
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. An Unexplainable Word
@LEVEL THREE = Why save one and not the other?
@LEVEL THREE = Key is that one was willing to acknowledge his need for Christ.
@LEVEL TWO = 3B. An Unearned Word
@LEVEL THREE = The thief would never serve Christ
@PAGE NUMBER = Page 3
@ILL TITLE = His Part ‑‑ My Part
@ILL TEXT = The negro boy down in my Southland years ago, wanted to join a church. So the deacons were examining him. They asked, "How did you get saved?" His answer was, "God did His part, and I did my part." They thought there was something wrong with his doctrine, so they questioned further, "What was God's part, and what was your part?" His explanation was a good one. He said, "God's part was the saving, and my part was the sinning. I done run from Him as fast as my sinful heart and rebellious legs could take me. He done took out after me till He run me down." My friend, that is the way I got saved also.
@ILL TEXT = J. Vernon McGee Romans, Vol. 1
@LEVEL ONE = 3A. A WORD OF SYMPATHY (19:25‑27)
@LEVEL TWO = 1B. A Word of Concern
@LEVEL THREE = Showed A Genuine Concern For Others
@LEVEL THREE = Jesus in the midst of His agony was concerned about His mother
@SCRIPTURE = Philippians 2:5‑8 (NIV) Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death‑‑ even death on a cross!
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. A Word Of Commitment
@LEVEL THREE = Showed A God ‑ Centered Life
@LEVEL FOUR = He would not allow anything to deter Him from serving God.
@SCRIPTURE = Isaiah 53:10 (NIV) Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
@PAGE NUMBER = Page 4
@LEVEL ONE = 4A. A WORD OF SEPARATION (Matthew 27:45‑46)
@ILL TITLE = THREE HOURS OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS
@ILL TEXT = From noon till 3 p.m. total darkness
@ILL TEXT = Why? Because our sin was placed upon Christ and the Son and the Father were separated.
@ILL TEXT = The darkness symbolized God's judgement
@SCRIPTURE = 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
@LEVEL TWO = 1B. He Became Our Sin
@LEVEL THREE = He never sinned, he became sin.
@INDENT PARA = Every evil in the history of mankind: every wicked deed; every rape; every robbery; every child molestation; every drug sale; every bottle of booze that has killed an innocent family in and automobile wreck ‑ all of that Christ became!
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. He Took Our Sentence
@LEVEL THREE = He suffered Our Hell
@LEVEL THREE = He uttered these words from the depths of Hell
@LEVEL THREE = The only time Jesus calls the Father "God"
@LEVEL TWO = 3B. He Became Our Substitute
@SCRIPTURE = John 11:50 (NIV) You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."
@PAGE NUMBER = Page 5
@ILL TITLE = H. A. Ironside once told the following:
@ILL TEXT = "One of the first gospel illustration that ever made a real impression upon my young heart was simple story that I heard a preacher tell when I was less than nine years old. It was of pioneers who were making their way across one of the central states to a distant place that had been opened up for homesteading. They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress was necessarily slow.
@ILL TEXT = One day they were horrified to note a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie, and soon it was evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely, and was coming toward them rapidly. They had crossed a river the day before but it would be impossible to go back to that before the flames would be upon them. One man only seemed to have an understanding as to what should be done. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. Then when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon it.
@ILL TEXT = As the flames roared on toward them from the west, a little girl cried out in terror. "Are you sure we shall not all be burned up?" The leader replied, "My child, the flames can reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has been!"
@POEM TEXT = On Him Almighty vengeance fell, <R>Which would have sunk a world to hell. <R>He bore it for a chosen race, <R>And thus becomes our Hiding Place.
@ILL TEXT = The fires of God's judgment burned themselves out on Him, and all who are in Christ are safe forever, for they are now standing where the fire has been.
@ILL TEXT = Robert G. Lee, SERMONIC LIBRARY, pp. 105‑06.
@LEVEL ONE = 5A. A WORD OF SUFFERING (John 19:28‑29)
@LEVEL TWO = 1B. Reveals His Humanity
@LEVEL THREE = All Man, yet all God
@LEVEL THREE = Gone ~ 20 hours without a drink
@SCRIPTURE = Hebrews 2:17 (NIV) For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. Reveals His Heart
@LEVEL THREE = He wanted a drink so he could declare Victory!
@PAGE NUMBER = Page 6
@LEVEL ONE = 6A. A WORD OF SUCCESS (John 19:30)
@LEVEL TWO = It Is Finished
@SCRIPTURE = "telestai" = something has been completed
@LEVEL TWO = 1B. The Work Is Completed
@SCRIPTURE = John 17:4 (NIV) I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. The Sacrifice Is Faultless
@LEVEL THREE = When a priest examined an animal sacrifice and found it faultless, this word would apply.
@SCRIPTURE = 1 Peter 1:19 (NIV) but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
@LEVEL TWO = 3B. The Picture Is Completed
@LEVEL THREE = When and artist completed a picture, he might say "It is finished."
@LEVEL FOUR = God had complete the picture of redemption
@LEVEL TWO = 4B. The Debt Is Paid In Full
@ILL TEXT = Main use involved a prisoner who had his crime paid for. The officials would write the tetelestai upon a piece of parchment which they would nail to the door of the prison. When the gaud would come by and see the parchment, he would take the key and open the door. Then he would tell the prisoner that all of his crimes had been paid for by a friend and that he was free to go!
@ILL TITLE = Too Late
@ILL TEXT = A young fellow came forward in a Gospel meeting, earnestly asking, "What can I do to be saved?" Knowing the man thought he had to accomplish something by his own efforts to gain redemption, the Christian worker responded to the anxious inquirer, "You're too late!"
@ILL TEXT = "Oh, don't say that," exclaimed the distressed seeker, "I really want salvation; I'd do anything or go anywhere to obtain it." "I'm sorry," replied the other, "you're too late for that. Your salvation was completed many hundreds of years ago at Calvary. It's finished work! All you have to do is simply receive Christ. Then the blessed gift He offers will become yours through His merits. Realizing his great debt was paid, the young man found peace by looking to the Savior and resting his all upon the grace of God."
@PAGE NUMBER = Page 7
@LEVEL ONE = 7A. A WORD OF SUBMISSION (Luke 23:46)
@LEVEL TWO = This was a bedtime prayer used by Jewish children.
@LEVEL TWO = Tell us how our Lord died..
@LEVEL TWO = 1B. Confidently
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. Willingly
@SCRIPTURE = John 10:17‑18 (NIV) The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life‑‑only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord....."
@LEVEL TWO = 3B. Victoriously
@LEVEL ONE = APPLICATION
@ILL TITLE = His Arms Are Open
@ILL TEXT = A story from Scotland tells of a mother's dramatic rescue of her child. Workmen were blasting rock in a quarry. One day after they had attached the fuse and retired to a safe place and gave the alarm they saw a three year old child wandering across the open space where danger threatened. Every passing second meant death was closing in on the child.
@ILL TEXT = The workmen called to the child and waved their arms, but he only looked on their strange antics with amusement. No man dared run forward knowing the explosion was only seconds away. The child most certainly would have been killed, had not his mother appeared at this moment of crisis.
@ILL TEXT = Taking in the situation at a glance she did what her mother's heart dictated. She did not run toward her son or yell to frighten him. Instead, she knelt down, opened wide her arms and
@ILL TEXT = smiled for him to come. Instantly the child ran towards her. Shortly later the area shook with the force of the explosion, yet the child was safe in his mother's arms.
@ILL TEXT = What a picture of the grace of God and of the cross. With outstretched arms on the cross Jesus gives his gracious invitation to the world. Indicating we are to come to him for eternal safety. Will you come to Jesus?
@ILL TEXT = Pulpit Helps