The Gospel Message: Meaninglessness to Meaningfulness

1. Life is meaningless—apart from God. (Ecclesiastes 4:1-6)

Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they
had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to
comfort them. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the
sun.

4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a
striving after wind.

5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end
to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and
depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

2. Why are we apart from God? Because of sin.

 Isaiah 59:2: But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.

3. Everyone has sinned, therefore, everyone is living life in vain.

 Romans 3:23: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
 Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.

4. We owe a penalty for our sins.

 Hebrews 9:27: Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.

5. BUT, despite our sinful disobedience to God, He still loves us and sent His son to die for us.

 John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish
but have eternal life.
 1 John 3:17: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

6. Only Jesus can restore us to God because He is the only one holy enough to do it.

 Isaiah 64:6: All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we
all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
 2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.

7. Merely knowing about what Jesus has done is not enough—we have to believe in Him.

 Matthew 7:21: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who
does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
 John 11:25-26: I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Me will live, even though they die; and
those who live and believe in Me will never die.”

8. Believing in Jesus means putting our faith in Him and Him alone. Not in good works.

 Ephesians 2:8-10: “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your
own efforts, but GOD’S GIFT, so that no one can boast about it. God has made us what we are, and in our
union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to
do.”

9. When you believe in Jesus, you become a new person—you become a child of God.

 John 1:12: "Some, however, did receive Him and believed in Him; so He gave them the right to become God's
children."
 1 John 3:1: How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!...
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know
 that when he appears, [1] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in
him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

10. When you become a child of God, you have living hope—a hope for a meaningful l life in Christ, and a hope for
eternity with God.

 John 6:35: Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and
whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
 John 4:14: Jesus said, “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The
water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
 Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of
God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood
the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree
are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the
Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be
on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of
the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
 1 John 5:11-13

11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us ceternal life, and dthis life is in his
Son. 12 eWhoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not
have life. 13 I write fthese things to you who gbelieve in the name of the Son of God, that you
may know that you have eternal life.