Classic Sermon Outlines (continued)
CLASSIC SERMON OUTLINES — Matthew Henry
B. The People of the Judgment.
The fire of the Lord burned among the people whom God favored, but they displeased Him when they sinned and His anger was kindled against them. Though the pillar of cloud and fire was over them to protect them while they kept themselves in the love of God, that should be no-security to them when they rebelled against Him.
C. The Cause of the Judgment.
The people complained and it was that which provoked God to kindle His fire among them. Those who are always complaining about trifles must expect to have something given to them to complain about. Nothing is more displeasing to God than our being displeased at His method of settling matters.
II. THE MEMORIAL OF THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON ISRAEL.
A. The Purpose of the Memorial in Relation to Israel.
The fire of the Lord must not be forgotten; he therefore calls the place Taberah—a burning. And if posterity ask, "What burning?" it will be answered, "The burning of a part of the camp of the Israelites with the fire of the Lord for their discontent and murmuring."
B. The Purpose of the Memorial in Relation to Us.
By recording these things in His sacred writings God has more effectually preserved the memorial of them and transmitted it to us.
1. Personal rebukes. We must often call to mind the personal and private rebukes of Providence which we and our families have been under. We should remember what God has spoken not only by His Word, but also by His rod. We should remember them in order to renew our repentance for the sins that produced them.
2. Public judgments. We must call to mind public judgments upon the communities of which we are members; upon the land and nation and God's controversies with them; and upon the city and His voice that has cried to it. For as in the peace thereof we have peace, so in the trouble thereof we have trouble and must feel it.
A Memorial to the Fire of the Lord
III. THE LESSONS FROM THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON ISRAEL.
A. God Is Terrible in His Judgments.
See how terrible God is in His judgments and fear before Him. If the glory of His greatness be like fire to a people who are entering into covenant with Him, much more will the terror of His wrath be so to a people who have broken covenant with Him.
B. Sin Is a Mischievous Thing.
Sin provokes God to be our enemy and to fight against us. He never contends with a people, but it is sin that is the cause of the controversy. National sins bring national judgments. The sins of a city bring misery upon it. It was the wickedness of Sodom that made it combustible matter for the fire of God's wrath.
C. This World Is an Uncertain Thing.
This is seen in Job whom the rising sun found the richest of men and the setting sun left poor to a proverb. Our Savior speaks of the danger we are in of losing our treasures upon earth by the moth that corrupts or thieves that break through and steal (Matthew 6:19).
D. God Remembers Mercy in the Midst of Wrath.
When the fire of the Lord burned in the camp of Israel, Moses prayed and then the fire was quenched. The prophet Amos tells us that when in his time the Lord called to contend by fire he prayed, "O Lord God, cease I beseech Thee," and "the Lord repented for this: this shall not be, saith the Lord God" (Amos 7:4-6).
E. Man Is Dependent upon God for Safety.
"Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." It is therefore your great concern to make Him your friend and to keep yourselves in His love; to secure the favor of the Ruler of rulers from whom every man's judgment proceeds. He has put you into an easy way of doing this, not by costly sacrifices and offerings, but by faithful and earnest prayer, kept up in its life and not sunk into a formality.
CLASSIC SERMON OUTLINES — Matthew Henry
F. The Great Day of the Lord Will Be a Dreadful Day.
See what a dreadful day the great day of the Lord will be when the world shall be on fire and the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up. When the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat and all these things shall be dissolved (II
Peter 3:11—12).
CONCLUSION
There is a fire yet more dreadful. The earth and the works that are therein will soon be burned up; but there is a lake of fire which burns eternally and shall never be quenched into which all the wicked and ungodly shall be cast by the irreversible sentence of the righteous Judge and in which they shall be tormented without end. Flee from wrath to come by fleeing from sin to Christ that you come not to the place of torment.