THE PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Gospel.

It’s at the very core of Christianity and it is the only hope for every person. The only hope.

The Gospel was initiated by the One who initiated everything, and we know that is God. The first verse of Genesis begins with these four words:

In the beginning, God.

Nothing else was in existent in the beginning. Not earth or any other planet or star for that matter. Not one single person or animal or bird or creature of the sea.

There was only God, a God of incredible, unrivaled power, a God who was and is the Master and Maker of all creation, a God who hates sin but instead of leaving mankind forsaken and destined for Hell, He chose to show His unbelievable, unfailing love, mercy, and grace by making a way so that every person could be saved. Here’s how Jesus explained this intentional act of redemption:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Jesus is telling the world why He was sent by His Father. God knew that sin had separated all created people from Him. Without divine intervention in the form of a permanent act of sin atonement, everyone was destined for perish.

And so God made the way to send salvation and He did so through Jesus. To be saved, a person only needs to believe in Jesus as Savior. This is the purpose of the Gospel, the Gospel that the Apostle Paul dedicated his life to.

As we turn to the opening two verses of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, we find Paul doing what he did best, talking about the Gospel with believers, in this case the Christians in Corinth. Here’s what he said:

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:1-2

It’s obvious that Paul wanted to remind the Corinthian church about the purpose of the Gospel, the Gospel He preached to them when he planted the church, the Gospel on which the believers had taken a stand.

What was the Gospel’s purpose?

It was to save, to save the Corinthian Christians just as much as it saved every other Christian who placed their faith, hope, and trust in Jesus, the Savior of the world.

But note that accepting the salvation offer of God through Jesus doesn’t give a person the latitude to live in sin because they know they have secured eternal life. Rather, they were to live the life that Jesus lives, following the word preached to them by Paul. To do otherwise would have sent the message that the Corinthian Christians believed in vain. Further, it would have shown a lack of appreciation for what Jesus had done to bring salvation, possibly making Him feel that He died in vain and no one should ever do this. Ever.

So the purpose of the Gospel was to provide the opportunity for salvation to all people who would believe in His Son Jesus, the One He sent to die for their sins. Without Jesus, there is no salvation and we’ll look at this closer in tomorrow’s message.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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