Classic Sermon Outlines (continued)
CLASSIC SERMON OUTLINES — Alexander Maclaren
2. The secret of stability. If we have Christ in our hearts He will be our consolation first and our stability next. Our hearts may be like some land-locked lake that knows no tide. "His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord."
C. A Fruitful Heart.
1. A man's life can be characterized by practical righteousness. There is no reason why each of us should not appropriate and make our own the forms of goodness to which we are least naturally inclined and cultivate -and possess a symmetrical, fully-developed, all-round goodness in some humble measure after the pattern of Jesus Christ our Lord.
2. The source of practical righteousness. Practical righteousness, "in ev_ery good word and work,' is the outcome of all the sacred and secret consolations and blessings that Jesus Christ imparts. We get our goodness where we get our consolation, from Jesus Christ and His Cross.
CONCLUSION
All your hopes will be like a child's castles on the sand unless your hope is fixed on Him. You may have everlasting consolation, you may have a hope which will enable you to look severely on the ills of life. You may have a calm and steadied heart. You may have an all-round, stable, comprehensive goodness. But there is only one way to get these blessings ; and that is to grasp and make our own by simple faith that great gift, Jesus Christ.