Romans 1:16 – “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
Last time we looked at the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel that appears to be the majority report in the modern day that is set out before people seems to be very weak as it is utterly reliant and dependant upon the power of the will of human beings. The Gospel of the Bible is powerful because it is utterly reliant and dependant upon the will and power of God. The Gospel in Scripture is the Gospel of the omnipotent God who alone can take human souls and deliver them from the state of spiritual death and bondage that they are in. It is God alone who can raise those who are in spiritual bondage to one far more powerful than they are and can raise human beings from the spiritual dead. James 1:18 sets this out very clearly: “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.”
In light of the above paragraph, the preaching of today is far too man-centered. The preaching of today preaches to man as if something was in his own power to do and does not address human beings as dead in sin and unable to raise themselves from the dead. It does not address human beings as in spiritual bondage and utterly helpless to help themselves. Instead people are preached to as if these things were in their own power. But human beings must be born again and raised from the dead and the power of God alone can bring people forth by the word of truth. Instead of preaching to the will of man as if it has power to do what is needed to be saved, the Word of God points us to look to the will of God as what is needed to be saved. The Gospel is powerful because it is God Himself who is powerful and works through His word.
In the previous BLOG several verses were given to show that sinners are dead in sin and in bondage and slavery to sin. Instead of just giving these verses a nod of the head and continuing on as if they were not true, we need to look at them a lot closer and others a lot closer. The first three verses give us the same thought: Ephesians 2:1: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” Ephesians 2:3: “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” Colossians 2:13: “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.” If we are to be faithful to Scripture and the Gospel, we must understand these verses and utilize them as they are necessary to understand what the new birth really is. These verses clearly show us that salvation is beyond the power of human beings and is more than a mere act of the human will. The spiritual nature of man is dead. In other words, when a believer is telling people the Gospel of Jesus Christ, those people need to know that they are dead in their sins. They are spiritually dead and cannot just make a decision or exercise an act of the will in order to be saved. What must happen to them is that God must make them spiritually alive which is to bring them forth from the dead.
What will happen if we bring a Gospel to people and ignore this basic fact? We will be bringing a message to those who are spiritually dead and so we will water the message of the Gospel down in order to have something for them to do. If we do not teach them that they are dead, they will think that all they have to do is to exercise their will in a prayer or act of belief and they will be saved. They will not recognize that the Gospel is all about an omnipotent God who must exercise His will in order to bring them forth from the spiritual dead. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news to those who see that they are dead in their sins and that they are by nature children of wrath. It is good news to those people because they can see that they don’t have the power to raise themselves from the dead, but instead they need to be emptied of their pride and self-centeredness so that they don’t try to save themselves by an act of their will. It is good news to these people because it takes their eyes off of themselves to see the living God who alone can raise them from the dead and also give them life that is everlasting.
We can see this in Colossians 2:13 as well as in Ephesians 2:4-10 (not quoted). Dead sinners are not just given a ticket that allows them into heaven, but they are raised from their spiritual deadness and given life. This is a life of great power because it is the life of God in their souls. This is a life of grace because that is the only way God operates toward anyone and especially toward dead sinners. This is of the power of God because the life that begins by grace is a life that is sustained at all points by grace and even through eternity. This Gospel is a Gospel of great power because it is the Gospel of the omnipotent God who does as He pleases. What a powerful Gospel.
God Loves... Himself 
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