THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST—IT’S IMPLICATIONS
Reading: 1 Cor. 15:1-4
Introduction: (1) The essence of the Gospel (Good News): D, B & R of Christ. (2) Implied in the Gospel—
I. THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD
1. The cross was no surprise to God.
2. Known from eternity (1 Pet. 1:20—“Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”)
3. God foreknew man’s fall and need for redemption.
II. GOD LOVES US
1. What else would move God to send His Son?
2. Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:6-9—“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
3. Thomas A. Kempis: “If thou didst know the whole Bible by heart, and the sayings of all the philosophers, what would all that profit thee without the love of God, and without His grace? Vanity of vanities: all is vanity except to love God and serve Him only.”
III. MAN CANNOT SAVE HIMSELF
1. Humanism: Man is basically good; capable of making the world Paradise. No need for God.
a. George Orwell, author of 1984,
(THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST—ITS IMPLICATIONS, P.2)
a. Humanism’s failure: In ’40 Orwell, author of 1984—regarding Europe’s rejection of God (approved by him): “For 200 years we had sawed and sawed and sawed at the branch we were sitting on. And in the end, much more suddenly than anyone had foreseen, our efforts were rewarded, and down we came. But unfortunately there had been a little mistake: The thing at the bottom was not a bed of roses after all; it was a cesspool full of barbed wire… It appears that amputation of the soul isn’t just a simple surgical job, like having your appendix out. The wound has a tendency to go septic.” (Christianity Today, 1-13-84)
b. Augustine: “Sin is believing the lie that you are self-created, self-dependent, and self-sustained.”
2. The original lie: “You shall be as gods…” (Gen. 3:5).
3. Eph. 2:8-9; Tit. 3:4-7
IV. REQUIRES THAT MEN HEAR, BELIEVE, OBEY
1. Mk. 16:15-16
2. Rom. 1:16
3. Some do not because of refusal to hear; unbelief.
4. Some do not because hearts are not prepared for spiritual things.
a. --Matt. 13:1-9—Parable of the seed, soils (wayside; stony ground; thorny ground; good ground).
b. v. 9—“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
V.. THE GOSPEL IS TO BE SHARED
1. Mk. 16:15
2. Treasure “in earthen vessels”—2 Cor. 4:7. (THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST—IT’S IMPLICATIONS, P.3)
3. ILLUS.: Coca Cola has virtually put a bottle of Coke in every hand—better we put the gospel in every heart.
CONCLUSION:
· --The Gospel was not devised by cunning men, but was formed in the mind of God. The implications: We have the opportunity and responsibility to know God, realize His great love for us, look out of self to the Lord, accepting and obeying that Good News that one day we may dwell eternally with Him in glory.