Verse 2

"By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain."

I want to focus on the phrase "this gospel" today. It is the phrase that holds this entire verse together.

Paul is in a fight. Generally, this was the pattern of Paul's life:

1. Go to a city.

2. Tell them the news about Jesus.

3. Get beat and chased out.

4. Hear to news that others have come to that city and are telling the believers there false things about Jesus and about you.

5. Write them a letter.

And this is the story of Paul's time in Corinth. Paul is defending not just himself and his message, he is defending the Gospel! Not Paul's Gospel! Not something he made up, not some set of philosophical thoughts Paul deduced, but the very truth of God that was revealed to Paul by Christ himself (Galatians 1:11-12).

It is important that we get the Gospel right.

It is the most important thing in the world.

I mean that.

Paul says, that believing any other Gospel is to have "believed in vain". To believe in any other Gospel is to believe in something that is impotent, ineffectual, and hopeless. All Gospels other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ are not just rivaling ideas but are lies from the pit of Hell (Galatians 1:6-9).

And there are so many other Gospels. So many other answers, solutions, promises, and saviors:

There's the postmodern gospel (I will be saved when I seek my own truth/reality and keep it to myself).

The social justice gospel (I will be saved when I make the world a better place).

The self-help gospel (I will be saved when I make a better me).

The prosperity gospel (I will be saved because God wants me to be healthy, wealthy, and have a perfectly manicured front yard).

There's an innumerable number of other man-created (or worse) gospels. But let's not focus on that, let's turn to the true gospel.

What is the true Gospel, the good news that Christ himself revealed to Paul?

The Good News was summed up in eight words by a man named Will Campbell as "We're all bastards, but God loves us anyways." I think that's I pretty good summation or at least a good start.

The Gospel starts with the fact that God loves us, but we suck.

God loves us. He is faithful to us. He is righteous.

I don't love him back. I am incredibly unfaithful. I am unrighteous. (Remember God is not comparing us to one another, but to perfection and he knows not just our outward actions but also all our thoughts, motives and the depths of our hearts.)

But . . .

But, he loves us anyways.

And because he loves us, God himself comes to the Earth. Jesus, God as a man, lives a perfect life on Earth. And he never errs, he is never unfaithful, and he remains righteous and because of that he is qualified and able to step in, to take our place, and the die, thereby removing all of our guilt.

But not just removing it, not just giving us a clean slate, but replacing our mess with God's perfection. Replacing our unfaithfulness with faithfulness and our unrighteousness with his righteousness.

And all of this is just scratching the surface of "this gospel." "This gospel" has the power to save and "this gospel" promises that our belief in it will not be in vain.

And there's more to come.