In the Spring of 2003 I took a Christian Doctrine II at The College at Southeastern with Dr. Pete Schemm. My Christian Doctrine classes (and Systematic Theology in Seminary) were truly some of my favorite classes. I loved learning about the doctrines in Scripture and how they are understood and applied. When we studied the doctrine of Christ I remember Dr. Schemm talking about four Christological passages. In these passages he talked about the importance of seeing Jesus with these four categories: He came, He lived, He died, He rose. That has stayed with me for the past 8 years. Those were my points from the message this morning. Not only those points, but the fact that they all were done in place of sinners, as our substitute. What an amazing Savior we have in Jesus Christ!
I also had the chance to quote Joe Thorn this morning from his book Note to Self (which I highly recommend). The following quote was helpful in stating the core of the gospel:
At its core, the gospel is Jesus as the substitute for sinners. We could summarize the whole by saying that in his life Jesus lives in perfect submission to the will of God and he fulfills his righteous standard (the law). In his death on the cross he quenches God's wrath against sin, satisfying the sovereign demand for justice. In his resurrection he is victorious over sin and death. All of this is done on behalf of sinners in need of redemption and is offered to all who believe. This is therefore very "good news."
