How good is the Good News?

  • Matthias Haeusel
  • Oct 26, 2008
  • Series: The Gospel of Mark

Sermon Outline

 

1.      In order to understand the value of a gift, we must understand its alternative; or what life would be like without the gift.

 

2.      Sin in the bible has many definitions: falling short of the mark, putting something/anything in God’s rightful place, denying gory to God, wandering away from the path. Jesus moved the definition of sin beyond acts themselves… he said sin included motives, thoughts and even intellect.

 

3.      The wages of our sin are death, human pain and suffering, heartbreak for God.

 

4.      Philosophers, poets, writers all agree… something is wrong with the human race.

 

5.      Jesus died on the cross as a proptiation for our sins. God Himself became man, took our sin on his back and paid the cost. His justice and His grace met in the person of Christ at the cross. Neither one was compromised.

 


Scripture readings

 

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”

-- Genesis 1:31

 

“The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.”
-- Genesis 6:5-6

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all..”
-- Isaiah 53:5-6

“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
-- Ephesians 2:3-4

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
-- Romans 3:23-26

“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
-- 1 Thessolonians 5:9

 


Theology 201

1.      Why did Jesus have to die on the cross for our sins? If God is all-powerful, why couldn’t he just wipe the slate clean and forgive us?

2.      If God is all-powerful, why didn’t He just make us to not sin? In other words, why did He allow it?

3.      [Extra credit] If we are forgiven once and for all by His grace, do we still have to confess and repent of our sins? Why?

 

 

 

Application 201

1.      How does sin creep in to your everyday life? How do you fight against it?

2.      What can we do at the CITY to keep sin from entering our family, our actions, and our ministries?

3.      How, as a Christian, how are you to walk the line between being loving and tolerant on the one hand and not condoning sin on the other? How did Jesus walk this line?