I Have A Message! The Gospel Message!
All Scripture points to the gospel message—that Jesus died to save us from our sins and an eternity being without Him. But that is just the beginning. When Jesus made us new creations in Him, He secured our future and gave us a new life and a fresh start. We now have an active role in sharing this good news of salvation, so we can all connect to Him in this life and the next.
In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he lays out the content of the gospel message in 1 Corinthians 15:1–4;
“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. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
In this passage, we see three essential elements of the gospel message. To begin with, the phrase “died for our sins” is very important. As Romans 3:23 tells us,
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
The reality of sin needs to be acknowledged by all who approach the throne of God for salvation. A sinner must acknowledge the hopelessness of his guilt before God in order for forgiveness to take place, and he must understand that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Without this foundational truth, no gospel presentation is complete.
Next, the person and work of Christ are essential components of the gospel. Jesus is both God, seen in Colossians 2:9, and man, seen in John 1:14;
"For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority." (Colossians 2:9)
"So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son." (John 1:14)
Jesus lived the sinless life that we could never live 1 Peter 2:22;
"For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps. He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone."
Sin against God requires sacrifice. Therefore, either man must pay the penalty for an infinite length of time in hell, or Christ must pay for it once. Jesus went to the cross to pay the debt we owe to God for our sin, and those who are covered by His sacrifice will inherit the kingdom of God as sons of the king John 1:12;
"He (Jesus) came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God."
Now we see that the resurrection of Christ is an essential element of the gospel. The resurrection is the proof of the power of God. Only He who created life can resurrect it after death, only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting that is death and the victory that is the grave’s 1 Corinthians 15:54–55;
"Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die [and our mortal bodies have been transformed into immortal bodies], this Scripture will be fulfilled: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. (55) O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'"
Finally, Christ offers His salvation as a free gift that can only be received by faith, apart from any works or merit on our part;
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (9) not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
These are the vital elements of the gospel: the sin of all men, the death of Christ on the cross to pay for those sins, the resurrection of Christ to provide life everlasting for those who follow Him, and the offer of the free gift of salvation to all.
Love to all in Christ,
Pastor Mike
(602) 510-5563
