September 14, 2025
"Making Sense of the Gospel"
I Timothy 1:5-17
The Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn’t make any sense if we don’t understand what we are and where we come from. It would be like an asteroid aimlessly floating around in space. It’s there but doesn’t have an indispensable purpose. If it didn’t exist, the world would still go on. The universe wouldn’t end. The existence of the universe doesn’t depend on one asteroid.
But we have to understand the greater context. The one asteroid may seem insignificant, but it has a purpose because God created it. It makes sense, then, why it is there. We may not necessarily know the reason, but there is a reason for its existence. God doesn’t make things for no reason. There is always a purpose for what He does. The fact that God created the asteroid is context for the existence of the asteroid. But without this context, it seems to us that the asteroid floats aimlessly in space. We don’t know why it’s there.
Without a context, the Gospel seems to have no reason to exist. If we don’t understand what we are and where we come from, the Gospel is just there. What we are and where we come from give the Gospel context.
Let me explain more in depth what I mean when I say the Gospel doesn’t make sense if we don’t understand what we are and where we come from. I’ll start with where we come from. We are from God. He created us. It’s that simple. He created us in His image and likeness. He put us here on this earth. We didn’t just simply appear or come from a long line of apes. God fashioned us and put us here.
That means there is a deep connection between us and Him. He didn’t create us to be independent from Him. He didn’t put us in this world to do whatever we want. Even though people do what they want, including turning away from the Lord, that’s not God’s will for us. That’s not why He created us. He made us for the purpose of having a relationship with Him.
The Gospel defines our relationship with the Lord. We have a relationship with the Lord because He made us and saved us. The Gospel is all about God’s saving us whom He created. Now the Gospel makes more sense to us. The Gospel is about God’s saving us. The Gospel directly applies to us; it involves us. It’s not a message unattached to anything.
We are from God; the Gospel comes from God. The Gospel is God’s gift to us. But this Gospel makes no sense if we don’t know where we come from and where the Gospel comes from. Praise God that He has revealed where we and the Gospel come from and that the Gospel is for us, the people whom He created to be His own. But without God in the picture, none of this makes any sense. If we don’t believe God made us and has given us the Gospel, then the Gospel doesn’t make sense.
The Gospel is God’s message of salvation to us. But this doesn’t make sense to us if we don’t know what we are. This brings me to our text where Paul, the author of this letter, says that he is the chief of sinners. This is what he understood himself to be. He doesn’t write that he was a great missionary or that he wasn’t that bad of a person. He clearly understood what he was. He doesn’t try to downplay what he was but acknowledges the truth.
Because he understood what he was, the Gospel made sense to him. Because he was a sinner, he realized the need for the Gospel in his life. His sins needed to be forgiven. He needed to be saved from eternal death.
He also understood that all people are sinners and that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. This is what he writes in verses 15 and 16 of our text: “... Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for this very reason I was shown mercy , so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life."
Paul probably considered himself the worst of sinners because of his former way of life. He persecuted the church and was responsible for the killing of some Christians. Anyway, Paul realized his sinful condition, as well as the sinful condition of all people. This made the Gospel relevant to all people. The Gospel made sense to him.
This is what we are. We are sinful whether we like to admit it or not. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to us. We do things that are not right. We have sinful thoughts. We are sinful human beings. I’m sure it doesn’t make us feel good to admit this. But this is what we are. God’s word makes this clear. And we should know this from simply observing people. People commit all kinds of wrongs which we can see.
All sin is ultimately sin before God. In Psalm 51, king David says that he has sinned against God. Only against Him has he sinned. Granted, he did commit sins against people. But sinning against people is the same as sinning against God. This is why David could write that he sinned against God. He too realized his sinful condition.
There is no getting around the fact that we are sinful. This is what we are. And it is a problem. It’s something we can’t ignore. It has to be dealt with.
This is where the Gospel comes in. God tells us in the Gospel that His Son, Jesus, died on the cross for our sins. And because He has, our sins are forgiven. Now the Gospel makes sense to us. We have a problem called sin, but we do have a remedy called the Gospel.
Now, if we didn’t sin, the Gospel would make no sense to us. If we didn’t sin, why would we need our sins forgiven? We wouldn’t need the Gospel. But the fact is we do sin, and we do need the Gospel.
Our sins have to be forgiven before God so that we can enter eternal life. God has given us the Gospel to take care of the problem of our sinfulness. This is how it works. But none of this makes any sense if we don’t know where we come from and what we are. Knowing where we come from and what we are gives the Gospel context. Without this context, the Gospel doesn’t make sense.
I hope we all realize the need for the Gospel in our lives. If we hope to live in eternal bliss after we die, we have to believe that our sins have been forgiven before God by Jesus Christ.
People have all kinds of silly notions when it comes to salvation. Most people put trust in themselves. They are hoping that they will be good enough to enter God’s kingdom. Instead of believing in the Gospel, they believe in themselves. But that doesn’t work. People who believe in themselves are really denying that they come from God and are sinful in God’s eyes. This is why the Gospel doesn’t make sense to them.
I suppose there are many people who don’t know that they come from God and are sinful. The Gospel certainly doesn’t make sense to them. But this is why we preach the Gospel. This is why we send missionaries into the world. The people of the world need to know that God has made all people. All people are accountable to Him. The people of the world need to know that they are sinful in God’s eyes. And they need to hear that Christ Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead for their forgiveness.
Praise God that the Gospel makes sense to us. We know that we have come from God and are sinful. We know also that we are saved by believing the Gospel.
Even though Paul claimed he was the worst of sinners, he also knew that Jesus had died and rose for him. His sins had been forgiven. He had eternal life to look forward to.
We do as well. May the Holy Spirit keep us steadfast in the faith. May we never lose sight of where we come from and what we are.