Confessing Gospel Truth- a line from my sermon

[15] The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
Fred Sanders “God is not trifling with us in the Gospel, but opening up in the most intimate way his very heart.”

Notice how Paul describes this central truth of the Gospel. He takes what is already known by the Church “This saying” and gives his apostolic approval to it. It is trustworthy - that is it is a faithful recap of the Gospel in miniature.

Secondly, he commends it to everyone. It deserves full – wide or universal acceptance. Creeds are not private (personal in their relevance) – there is no Christianity without a common faith. Statements like “no creed but the Bible,” make no sense and lead to an individual Christianity – subjective, unhistorical and open to a thousand interpretations. (Dorothy Sayers, the literary friend of C.S. Lewis put it well - “without creed there is chaos”.)
This affirmation used in the worship of this apostolic church is summed up in 9 words. Much more can be said about the Gospel. We have creeds that delve deeper into its ramifications (Nicene Creed, the Westminster Confession) But this 9 word creed is the essence of the Gospel
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”

This was the eternal mission of God, to act in sovereign love to enter our world, in time and history in the person of his Son: to enter a world turned against God, running towards destruction and for the purpose of saving these sinners.
Everything in the life of the church and every other doctrine builds upon this central core truth.
Eveything we know about God is through the lens of this telescope – the God who saves.
Everything we do and are called to live our lives in light of is this central truth .